Earth Day sees launch of the world’s first cardboard spirit bottle

Handcrafted on the Albury Estate in the heart of the Surrey Hills by Silent Pool Distillers, Green Man Woodland Gin is the world’s first spirit in a cardboard bottle, with a carbon footprint six times lower than a glass bottle. The carbon-friendly gin bottle very aptly launched on Earth Day, and for every bottle sold Silent Pool Distillers has pledged to plant a tree in the Surrey Hills, helping to reduce CO2 levels.

The idea came about from general manager Sophie Best who wanted to make a cardboard bottle a reality. “She started looking for companies we could work with to make this cardboard bottle happen and came across a company called FrugalPac and got working with them,” marketing campaigns manager Melissa Thorn tells me.

FrugalPac is a Suffolk-based sustainable packaging firm who create and supply recycled paper-based products. Their Frugal Bottle has sparked a huge amount of interest from people within the drinks industry who are eager to cut their emissions and appeal to their sustainability-minded consumers. The 75cl bottle is made from recycled paperboard with a food-grade liner to hold the wine or spirit, can be refrigerated and keeps the liquid cooler for longer.

‘The bottle is made from 94 per cent recycled paper and has a carbon footprint six times lower than a glass bottle’

Handcrafted with 25 botanicals inspired by the forests of Surrey, the gin itself reflects the eco-friendliness of the bottle. “Because Surrey is the most wooded county in England, and we’re in a really rural area ourselves, we thought the gin inside it has to reflect this,” Thorn tells me.

It has top notes of fresh pine, birch leaf and fir and a herbal mid-palate of rose hips and apple with a woody, rooty finish, and is best served with premium Mediterranean tonic and garnished with a sprig of pine and squeeze of lemon.

The recipe took a couple of months to perfect, but it’s been totally worth the wait, as it’s received so much positive attention since its launch. “It seems a lot of people were waiting for something like this to happen in the drinks industry,” Thorn tells me. “We’ve had a lot of international request. Since we launched, we’ve had about 10 countries get in touch wanting to stock it, so that’s amazing.”

“We also have had some questions asking why it’s really relevant, because you can recycle glass bottles, but really the biggest difference with the cardboard bottle is the production – it uses way less water, plastic, lower carbon emissions,” she continues. The bottle is made from 94 per cent recycled paper and has a carbon footprint six times lower than a glass bottle.

Silent Pool Distillers was founded by friends Ian McCulloch and James Shelbourne in 2014. It was born out of a shared passion for craft distilling and a hunger to create a new kind of distillery, producing handcrafted, artisan spirits with uncompromising quality. From their converted farm buildings, they have launched several other spirits, gifts, merchandise, distillery tours and a bar, and they remain a popular tourist spot due to the beautiful Silent Pool next door.

Feature image: Green Man Woodland Gin banner. Photo credit: Silent Pool Distillers.