B Corp Month 2022
In celebration of B Corp Month, we want to share some of our top sustainability practices with you. Through the course of the pandemic, our company has gone through many positive changes, many of these driven by our desire to do better in every way on our sustainability goals. From moving tasting room locations to expanding our distillery, our B Corp practices have been at the forefront of all our considerations and decisions. Check out our Sustainability Manual, which thoroughly outlines our sustainability efforts across the company.
Tasting Room Move
Our Tasting Room from 2014-2021 was a large bar and restaurant with about 70 seats inside and two outdoor patios. It was so difficult to wrangle waste and recycling. We did our best to recycle and compost everything we could, but the sheer numbers of customers made it difficult to ensure everything was handled properly.
In addition, the success of our food menu had begun to eclipse our main objective - introducing customers to our rum and rum cocktails. In May of 2021, we began to assess how to simplify our operation to focus on the core of our business and improve our sustainability goals.
On December 15, 2021, we opened a new tasting room which is now a testament to the goals we set. The scale of our new location allows for more manageable systems- where we can compost all food waste and implement more rigorous recycling systems. We can better handle hard-to-recycle items we frequently work with like tetrapaks and plastic film, through a partnership with Sustainable Crested Butte. We are now able to recycle nearly all packaging that flows through our tasting room, which brings us one step closer to our zero-waste goal.
Sorted recycling in the Montanya Distiller’s tasting room.
Distillery Expansion
Selecting equipment that meets our sustainability practices was a top priority when creating our new, larger distillery. Our new 500-gallon alembic copper pot still is connected to several sustainability systems, including closed-loop water handling for cooling, and biodigestion on site.
Our LFC Biodigester can process biowaste from both our tasting room and distillery and turn 80 pounds a day into grey water in a 24 hour period.
Systems like biodigestion require constant loving care. While we were relocating last fall, our biodigester wasn’t processing enough food scraps to digest at its usual rate. Without this constant diet of biowaste, it wasn't able to keep its culture balanced. Thankfully, with plenty of rest and a broth-only diet, it was able to regain its health and is fully functional again!
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We are constantly looking for ways to improve our systems and create an even more sustainable and zero-waste company. Even though we are moving and expanding, maintaining sustainable practices will always be our top priority.