Why Sustainable Distilling Matters and the Craft Distilleries Leading the Charge

When it comes to sustainability, distilleries have not traditionally been model citizens. In fact, according the Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable (BIER) 2018 Benchmarking Study, distilleries are the most water-intensive facilities in the alcohol industry due to the distilling and cooling processes. Cooling water is the largest component of a distillery’s water use profile. And the worst part is, most of this water emerges as waste after it’s used. The study states that the average distillery uses 411,198,000 liters of water a year while producing only 12,583,000 liters of spirits from that water. That’s nearly 35,000 liters of water wasted every day by a single distillery.

However, while distilleries as a whole don’t have a great track record when it comes to environmental friendliness, many independent craft distilleries do. At BigFish, we are honored to work with a number of such distilleries. From recapturing process water to sending stillage to local ranchers for cattle feed to using only locally-sourced grains, several of our partners are practicing sustainable distillation and, in celebration of Earth Day, we are excited to share with you the steps they are taking.

Read the rest of this article featuring Montanya Distillers here.