Discover The Best Brands of Sustainable Vodka
Vodka is a high-percentage spirit alcoholic drink that is usually made with wheat or potatoes. Rather than buy multi-national big brands, why not try some homegrown artisan brands.
Corks are too dense to compost, so recycle at off license or send in bulk to Recorked.
Utkins UK5 Vodka is from an award-winning brand that only use pure natural ingredients. Certified by Soil Association, this vodka is distilled with care in the heart of London, from the company that brought us the world’s first organic Juniper Green Gin.
The Best Brands of Sustainable Tonic Water
Tonic water is mostly served as a mixer for gin and vodka, or sometimes alone as a refreshing drink. But it was originally used to help prevent malaria, as it contains quinine (from the bark of the cinchona tree).
It was so bitter that medics added gin, to make it more palatable. Modern tonic waters don’t have as much quinine, and are generally sweeter.
Due to quinine, avoid tonic water for certain medical conditions (liver failure, blood thinners, antibiotics and anti-depressants). Also check medication inserts, before consuming grapefruit or rhubarb drinks. Tonic water on its own should also be avoided for pregnancy/nursing (you obviously won’t be drinking alcohol).
- Fentimans (Northumberland) makes a wide range of botanically brewed tonic waters, made with herbal infusions from lemongrass to Sicilian lemon oil.
- Luscombe (Devon) blends Dartmoor spring water with wild or organic fruits, and Indian quinine. Also in flavoured versions (elderflower and grapefruit) and a Light version (sweetened with fruit sugar, with Japanese yuzu).
- Daylesford makes organic tonic water with dandelion, instead of quinine. Containing far less sugar, it’s bottled on a family farm in Devon. Choose from Light, cucumber, wild elderflower or Damescena rose.
A Vodka to Help Silverback Gorillas!
Gorilla Spirits Co has carved a niche for itself among English distillers. Its vodka (and gin) donate a portion of proceeds to The Gorilla Organization. Read more on how to save endangered great apes.
The range includes:
- Blackback Mountain Strength Vodka!
- Karisimbi Golden Rum
- Karisimbi Spiced Rum
- Karisimbi White Rum
- Maraba Coffee Liqueur
- Maraba Salted Hazelnut Liqueur
- Silverback Clementine Bergamot Gin
- Silverback Wild Strawberry Gin
- White Rum
Made in Hampshire with local water and grains, the vodka uses a five-times distillation to produce a clean crisp spirit, with subtle hints of vanilla and pepper.
All wild gorillas live in central Africa, moving in ‘troops’ of up to 30, led by the silverback male. They are critically endangered, due to loss of habitat and poaching.
Mostly herbivores, the silverback is 10 times stronger than a human man, but gentle unless they feel at risk. They are so clever, they can make bamboo ladders to help babies reach trees, and make cutlery from twigs, to eat insects!
Fatty’s Organic Vodka from London
Fatty’s Organic Vodka is from Dulwich. This highly quality organic vodka is made with fermented grain. It’s smooth, rich and creamy. This company also makes a nice organic gin, including a low-alcohol grapefruit version.
The World’s First Climate-Positive Vodka
Sapling Spirits is the world’s first climate-positive vodka, which plants a tree for every drink enjoyed. Made with British wheat, a unique code on each bottle tells you what tree was planted (and where).
A recent study found that the average bottle of vodka uses 2.8kg of carbon before it reaches the customer. Made in London, this uses charcoal filtered water, to leave a hint of natural sweetness.
So far, the company has planted over 300,000 trees (both in the UK and abroad), and saved over 300,000 bottles from landfill.
Bars and restaurant buying wholesale use refillable 5 litre eco boxes, which saves 7 bottles from ever being created. The bottles are also made from 40% recycled glass, and use natural corks.
The range includes standard vodka, plus a raspberry hibiscus pink vodka, which makes use of wonky raspberries, that would otherwise have gone to landfill. Hibiscus should be avoided for pregnancy, but then hopefully are not drinking vodka anyway?
There’s also a regenerative vodka, made with eco-farmed wheat that is a tasty mix of toffee, cereal, earth and chocolate orange!
Pure Organic Vodka (from an Essex boy!)
Pure Organic Vodka is another good brand, founded by a young Essex entrepreneur. It also comes in a light lower calorie version.
An Artisan Vodka from Dartmoor (Devon)
TORS Vodka is charcoal-filtered for 3 months, and named after the local granite hills. The flowing streams provide an endless supply of fresh water, to blend with local wheat.
The company also makes cocktails by adding fruit to the vodka, pressed through a hand-operated cider press, then blended with sugar syrup. The signature vodka is accompanied by flavoured vodkas (raspberry, blueberry and elderflower).
You’ll pick up soft notes of vanilla and grain, with a gentle sweetness that lingers. It works brilliantly on its own, over ice, or as the perfect base for a classic cocktail.
Everything, from sourcing water to bottling, happens close to home. Apart from their Limoncello (you can’t grow lemons in England!)
Seasonal Vodkas from Herefordshire
Gattertop Drinks is an award-winning brand of seasonal vodkas from beautiful Herefordshire. By using ingredients from disappearing orchards, it helps to preserve them, rather than land being used for urban buildings.
The founder spent her childhood wandering the hills, woods and farmland of the family estate, and was determined to create a brand that had a part in preserving them.
Her family’s farm dates back to 1086, standing in a valley whose orchards have borne fruits for thousands of years. These vodkas make use of homegrown fruits and botanicals, for unique taste in each glass.
- Classic Vodka No.1 is made with repurposed steeped damson and organic windfall apples from the estate’s abundant orchards, for a crisp vodka with creamy biscuit and honey notes. Perfect on the rocks.
- Damson Vodka is an ideal autumn tipple. The damsons are steeped for 12 months, giving flavours of plum, almond and marzipan.
- Botanical Vodka is fresh and herby, infused with elderflower, apple blossom, damson leaves, nettles, rosemary, basil and coriander.
Respirited Vodka (made with surplus grain)
Respirited is a unique brand of vodka, made from surplus grain, rather than from new crops. It’s made with green energy and sold in recycled bottles. The bottles also feature eco-corks, compostable closures and biodegradable recycled labels.
For the ideal tipple, pour a measure over a glass of ice with a couple of squeezed fresh lime wedges, and top with soda water. Garnish with a wedge of fresh lime.
For a bloody Mary, pour a serving over a glass of ice, then add a squeeze of lemon, a pinch of salt and top with tomato juice. Garnish with a celery stick.
An Artisan Vodka (made from peas!)
Pod is a unique vodka, in that rather than being made from grain or potatoes, it’s made from British peas. Sweet vegetal peas give a slight citrus notes. You’ve heard of pea pod wine, now you have pea pod vodka!
Perfect as a fresh taste (it tastes like peas) or in a cocktail, this vodka offers something different, while supporting our farmers.
Peas are also nitrogen fixers, so help to regenerate healthy soil. The peas are grown in Suffolk, then distilled and fermented in a copper still in Manchester.
The Pod labels are made from locally-sourced wood-free sandpaper. And the company is even working on turning leftover pea pulp as protein powder.
Foraged Vodkas from Isle of Wight
Tipsy Wight makes nice hedgerow vodkas, from ingredients foraged on the Isle of Wight. Locals pick ingredients like sloe, wild cherry, plum, and crab apple each season.
The range includes:
- Cherry
- Damson
- Crabapple
- Elderflower
- Hedgerow
- Medlar
- Quince
- Sloe
- Wild Mint & Cucumber
- Wild Plum
- Beech Leaf
- Lavender
- Mulberry
- Chilli
- Rhubarb Vanilla
- Wild Garlic
Yorkshire’s Apple-Powered Vodka!
Vodka made from Yorkshire apples? It’s true, and Dutch Barn Vodka proves why local ingredients matter. The brand is co-owned by Ricky Gervais!
Although most vodka is made from grain or potatoes, Dutch Barn Vodka began, after the founder saw perfectly good apples, laying in an abandoned Yorkshire orchard.
This unique brand in lovely light brown glass bottles still uses apples, with a tiny of potato for a creamy mouth-fee.
Apples give Dutch Barn Vodka its signature style. Expect smooth notes of apple and a gentle sweetness. It’s not as harsh as some traditional vodkas and works well on its own or in cocktails.
Choose from several flavoured vodkas:
- Original (apples!)
- Raspberry Vodka
- Black Cherry Vodka (with a little almond extract, tastes a bit like Bakewell tart of Black Forest Gateau!)
- Mediterranean Citrus
- Balinese Vanilla
- Espresso Liqueur
- Cherry Liqueur
- Elderflower Elderberry Liqueur
A Spicy Tomato Mix from Suffolk
The Pickle House claims to produce England’s best base for the popular Bloody Mary drink (tomato juice with vegan Worcestershire sauce and optional tabasco sauce).
This award-winning mix is packed with sun-drenched tomatoes, spices and their own punchy pickle juice, then hand-bottled on a Suffolk farm. You can of course omit the vodka.
Keep your pickle juice chilled. The Spiced Tomato Mix once opened, should be kept in the fridge and used up within a few days.
Did you know that Worcestershire sauce usually contains anchovies? Go for a fish-free version like Bonsan or Biona.
You can also buy the Pickle Juice to take alone. It’s ideal for your tummy, and can also soothe muscle cramps and balance blood sugar. It’s also peppered with electrolytes, so kind of like a locally-made artisan hydration drink.
The company founder visited New York, took some pickle juice, then returned home to Hackney, with ‘pickles on the brain’.
Pickle juice is simply a base of vinegar that’s infused for 12 weeks with a bit of sugar along with cucumber, mustard seeds, fennel, celery leaf, salt and turmeric. Some people love it so much, they just swig it out the bottle!
This ultimate Bloody Mary (Crowded Kitchen) uses the same base, but is a bit more fancy with added seasonings, including paprika.
Vodka Sodas to Help the Oceans
Arrowtown Drinks make vodka sodas in easy-to-recycle cans, like ‘hard seltzers’, so less alcohol than vodka (around 5%, the same as beer but lower in calories).
Healthier than a gin and tonic, but less puritanical than drinking a glass of water! For every can sold, the company remove 2 plastic bottles from the oceans, in partnership with an organisation abroad.
They employ people in developing countries to remove ocean plastic from the ocean, which is then sold for recycling.
This brand was inspired by two young brothers, who with the wisdom of a couple of university students (not much!), decided it would be fun to take on the world’s biggest brands of sugary seltzer drinks, by offering something better, and which helped wildlife too.
Choose from four flavours:
- Black Cherry & Apple
- Peach & Raspberry
- Lime & Elderflower
- Mango & Pineapple
