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.
Which between them use British wheat and potatoes, peas or even upcycled and organic ingredients?
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.
Tonic water contains quinine, so check medication (also for rhubarb/grapefruit tonic waters) or use soda water instead as a mixer.
Quinine should also be avoided for pregnancy/nursing. But hopefully you won’t be drinking vodka anyway?
Most good brands use natural corks. These are too dense for composting (and choking hazards). So if your off license does not recycle, send in bulk to Recorked, to be made into other things.
A Vodka to Help Endangered Gorillas
Gorilla Spirits Co offers Blackback Mountain Strength Vodka is made from British wheat, with notes of warm spice.. A portion of profits go to a charity that helps endangered gorillas, one of our closest relatives.
Also available for contract distilling, this company is a great switch from major brand names, as you can sip on your favourite tipples, while helping the great apes.
All wild gorillas (both eastern and western gorillas) live in central Africa, they don’t see each other, as there is a big rainforest between them.
They move in ‘troops’ of up to 30 gorillas, which is led by the dominant silverback male, a few females and the children. Critically endangered, due to loss of habitat and poaching.
Mostly herbivores (they will sometimes eat insects and snails), the silverback is around 10 times stronger than a human man, but mostly are gentle, they only attack if they feel at risk, or are protecting their families.
One of the most clever of all animals, they can make bamboo ladders to help babies reach trees, and even make cutlery from twigs, to eat insects.
An Award-Winning Sustainable Vodka
Sapling Spirits is the world’s first climate-positive vodka, which plants a tree for every drink enjoyed. Made with British wheat, these quality spirits are ideal for anyone who loves a tipple, but also wishes to help nature.
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 brand uses local ingredients along with charcoal filtered water, to leave a fresh finish due to the high starch content, with a hint of natural sweetness.
Sapling Spirits was founded by two friends who worked on tree-planting projects together. They needed more cash, so decided to make a bar in the clearing, which turned into a festival. This put the idea of sustainable vodka into their heads.
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.
There’s also a regenerative vodka, made with eco-farmed wheat that is a tasty mix of toffee, cereal, earth and chocolate orange!
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.
Pure Organic Vodka from Essex
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 an artisan vodka, handcrafted in beautiful Dartmoor, Devon. Made in small batches, it’s 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 range includes the signature vodka, along with some flavoured vodka liqueurs. Including raspberry, blueberry and elderflower.
Vodka is made from wheat or potatoes, and was invented either in Poland or Russia, used to clean wounds, as well as to get people drunk!
It was also known as ‘bread wine’ as rye bread was often used to make it. The word is from the Russian word for water, as this is the main ingredient used to make it.
Artisan Seasonal Vodkas from Herefordshire
Gattertop Drinks is an award-winning brand of seasonal vodkas from beautiful Herefordshire. By using ingredients found in the county’s disappearing orchards, it’s helping to preserve them for use in fruit crumbles and vodkas, rather than land being used for urban buildings.
This in turn supports habitats of local wildlife.
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.
Sustainable 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.
Unique 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.
Obviously being made from peas, this is a green vodka! The bottles are made from UK-sourced sand (made from glass destined for more processing, so uses less energy and water).
The Pod labels are made from locally-sourced wood-free sandpaper. And the company is even working on turning the leftover pea pulp as protein powder for the pet food industry.
Isle of Wight Vodka (from foraged fruits)
Tipsy Wight steep wild fruits and berries grown on local farms in vodka for ‘absolutely ages’ to produce beautiful unique vodka liqueurs. 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
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!
A Fancy Bloody Mary Recipe
This ultimate Bloody Mary (Crowded Kitchen) uses the same base, but is a bit more fancy with added seasonings, including paprika.
Vodka Sodas (that help remove ocean plastic)
If you like a tipple, look for Arrowtown Drinks (vodka sodas in easy-to-recycle cans). These are kind of like ‘hard seltzers’ with around 5% alcohol, so the same as beer but far lower in calories.
Healthier than a gin and tonic, but less puritanical than drinking a glass of water! They are also sold in zero waste cans.
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.
The company hopes to fund the collection of at least 3,600 kilos of ocean-bound plastic in one year, to work towards Ocean Co’s global ambition of collecting 7 billion ocean-bound plastic bottles by the end of 2025.
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
