Next up is filtering, which gives vodka its clean mouthfeel. Although some craft distillers choose to skip this step altogether to impart a more unique flavour. This is Sapling’s first bespoke blend for a hotel and restaurant, and they’ve chosen to work with Whatley Manor because of the hotel’s impressive green credentials and commitment to sustainability, which match their own values and mission. Sue Williams comments: “This collaboration with Sapling has been a lot of fun, but also has great purpose. Learning how to combine best practice distilling with a waste product makes perfect sense, and has resulted in a very delicious drink, too! The initiative is totally in line with Whatley Manor’s continued endeavours to work with partners who have complementary sustainability objectives.”

We have partnered with Ecologi to support forest garden projects in Uganda. The area surrounding mount Elgon is heavily degraded due to deforestation and over-cultivation. The relatively high population in the area puts a strain on the land, leaving it almost bare, due to degradation from animal grazing, tree-cutting for fuel wood, and heavy mono-cropping of specific crops like bananas and coffee. The degraded land has also led to deadly landslides in the area which pose an acute safety risk to the nearby populations. This is a natural partnership in line with Whatley Manor’s concerted journey to make the hotel, its restaurants and spa a beacon for sustainability. General Manager Sue Williams and her team spent a year examining every aspect of the Whatley Manor operation to assess how improvements could be made to reduce their carbon footprint and eliminate waste. We love Chase and we consider them something of a benchmark. But we are very different. Obviously, there is the ‘potato vs grain’ debate, but the main contrast between us and them is that our brand was born out a desire to do something about the climate crisis. Much as Chase showed the way for premium British vodka brands to compete on the world stage, we hope to become the benchmark for an altogether more climate-positive approach to international drinks manufacturing.

More Alternatives…

This project involves the establishment of 400 Forest Gardens in the Mount Elgon region in Eastern Uganda. Each Forest Gardens is approximately one hectare each in size, and local farmers are supported and trained to establish and look after their Forest Gardens over a period of 4 years. Unsurprisingly, we’d prefer everyone to choose Sapling vegan vodka every time, but we’d certainly settle for being the first rather than the only choice. As far as we’re concerned, British vodka becoming the UK connoisseur’s preference can only be a good thing. It’s also worth noting that the horrible situation in Ukraine means that retailers and consumers alike are shunning Russian vodka, so some of you might be looking for more ethical vodka alternatives. The good news is that you’ve come to the right place.

Sustainable British wheat vodka that plants a tree for every bottle. Our vodka is distilled four times from 100% British winter wheat, which has a naturally high starch content, giving it a natural sweetness with hints of vanilla and lemon, and smooth and creamy finish. It is best enjoyed chilled, or as an easy highball with a seasonal fruit cordial topped with soda over ice. For every bottle of Sapling sold, a tree is planted. Their tree planting projects are in communities where the trees will have a positive impact. For example, they are championing an urban planting scheme in London, which has seen fruit trees spring up in central locations like Elephant & Castle. Sapling has planted 23,306 trees so far. Sustainable British brand Sapling Spirits has launched a limited edition, climate-positive citrus vodka in collaboration with Fortnum & Mason. Waste not, want not: the Fortnum’s x Sapling vodka is made using discarded citrus peel Sapling’s wonky fruit range has been created to fight food waste by using fruit that does not meet premium-grade specifications for appearance, weight and colour, and struggles to make it onto grocery shelves.

This is not just about taste, it is about our planet too. We are excited at Sapling to have created something that customers can enjoy knowing they are helping food waste and their planet.” Vodka can be made from almost anything. We’ve tested those made from potatoes, grains, grapes and even sugarcane. This is then fermented, before being distilled (often multiple times) to remove impurities — look out for this on the label.

We believe in more than just high quality spirits. To help the environment, we plant a two year old sapling tree for every bottle sold. One of our trees in its lifetime can sequester up to 1.5 tonnes of carbon, which outweighs the carbon impact of producing a bottle of vodka. To mark Zero Waste Week 2021, which takes place from 6th-10th September 2021, Whatley Manor has partnered with Sapling Spirits to launch Whatley Manor Citrus Vodka. The vodka is infused with citrus peel (lemon and orange), using only fruit from the hotel’s kitchen, which would otherwise have gone to waste. By the end of the 4-year programme, farmers have an established and protected Forest Garden which they can use to sustain their families and produce vital income. The range has debuted with a Raspberry & Hibiscus Vodka expression, which uses rejected raspberries that have been bumped, crushed, squashed or broken but are ‘just as fruity and delicious’ as their supermarket shelf-worthy counterparts. The regeneratively farmed spirit is distilled four times from organic wild-farmed wheat, before it is blended with charcoal-filtered, deionised water.

Our vodka is distilled exclusively from British wheat. We distill it four times, resulting in a very clean, crisp, and naturally sweet taste.

They were on the lookout for clean, crisp vodkas, with a smooth mouthfeel and well-integrated alcohol. For the exclusive Citrus edition, London-based Fortnum & Mason collected 40kg of lemon and orange peel waste from the attached bar at 45 Jermyn St. The peel was then macerated in Sapling’s base vodka for 48 hours before being redistilled. Those of you who have been paying attention will know that sustainability is much more than a ‘nice-to-have’ for all of us at Sapling Spirits: it’s the core of our brand and our reason for being. After all, we started this business as we couldn’t find a premium British vodka with sustainability at its heart. We also felt that the ‘gin explosion’, which brought lots of great artisanal British gin brands to the surface, hadn’t really crossed over to the world of British premium vodka. This presented an opportunity that wouldn’t just benefit us at Sapling Spirits. We knew that creating a world-class sustainable British vodka would prove that importing vodka from overseas—which creates a massive carbon footprint—was totally unnecessary. There is no reason why premium vodka can’t be made here. By choosing to buy British vodka, you’re simultaneously supporting our economy and helping our planet. Which is a long way of saying that homegrown vodka is the way to go for environmentally conscious types who appreciate the finer things in life. And while rum is often associated with sunnier climates (such as the Caribbean), and tequila coming strictly from Mexico, vodka is a much more global spirit. We tested bottles from here in the UK and across Europe, with our winning bottle surprisingly coming from South Africa. How we test vodka

Made in the Cotswolds, Sapling vodka is created using only ingredients local to the distillery to reduce transport emissions. The 40% ABV vodka is gluten free and the flavour comes purely from the waste citrus fruit, with no added sugar or artificial flavourings. Sapling’s smooth and creamy vodka, with a hint of lemon and orange, is delicious served on ice, and also makes a perfect vodka martini. Our panel – made up of 10-accredited spirits experts and vodka-loving consumers – put 20 vodkas to the test. Each was tried neat and blind, to avoid brand bias, then followed by some water to dilute and soften the alcohol and bring out the core flavours. Once again, though, we do have a major point of difference. Not only is Sapling vodka—in our (entirely unbiased) opinion—just as delicious, we have another important feather in our cap. All of us at Sapling Spirits are proud of the fact that our premium vodka and artisan gin is 100% vegan. We’ve always known that, for us, our brand and our customers, vegan vodka is the way to go. Ivo Devereux, co-founder of Sapling Spirits, said: “We are really excited to be launching our new wonky range of vodka. At Sapling we believe that beauty is more than skin deep which is why we use natural wonky raspberries that might not look perfect but still taste just as sweet and juicy as their ‘perfect’ counterparts.