Get the party started with these conscious and ethical drinks.
With the countdown to the end of the year in full swing, you might be already be feeling the tightening waistline and foggy head of this party season. But with less than a week to go til the big day is upon us, it’s time to stock the fridge and replenish the drinks cabinet like you’re going into hibernation for the winter, and what better way to fill it than with conscious drinks that both taste good and do good?
This Christmas, quench your thirst with a beverage that also give back to charity, or is made with organic ingredients, wonky fruit and veg or food waste. Here are our favourites:
ALCOHOL
FAIR drinks Vodka
FAIR drinks is an independent spirits brand, dedicated to making high quality products that are sourced ethically and sustainably. It sources Fair Trade and organic ingredients from around the world, paying farmers at a fair price, to make its range of spirits including vodka, rum and gin. FAIR’s vodka is made of specially selected organic quinoa sourced from the Andean mountains, which is shipped carefully to the famous region of Cognac in France, where the vodka is crafted.
Find out more at fair-drinks.com
Toast Ale
Toast is on a mission to end bread waste – 44% of bread in the UK is wasted – brewing its beer with unsold loaves from bakeries and unused crusts from sandwich makers, along with hops, yeast and water. Social enterprise and certified B Corp Toast also gives 100% of its profits to Feedback, an environmental charity campaigning to end food waste. It is also working on making its production process as environmentally friendly has possible – its brewery partners powered by onsite wind turbines, groundwater extracted by a bore hole, barley sourced from local farms, and spent grain going to animal feed rather than landfill.
So make a toast with Toast this Christmas safe in the knowledge that you are making a positive impact on the planet in the process.
Find out more at toastale.com
Brewgooder beer
Brewgooder is craft beer on a mission to bring clean water to 1 million people by donating 100% of profits to clean water charities.
Find out more at brewgooder.com
Elephant Gin
Elephant Gin is handmade in Germany but inspired by Africa. Distilled using 14 hand-selected botanicals, including rare African botanicals, Elephant Gin is produced in small batches and sold in custom-made bottles with handmade labels so that production efforts can be controlled. To date, Elephant Gin has donated €450,000 to foundations that support the conservation of its namesake, the African elephant. For every bottle sold, 15% of profits are donated to The Big Life Foundation, Space for Elephants, and The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.
Find out more at elephant-gin.com
One Gin
As well as boasting possibly the most beautiful Instagram feed we’ve seen, award-winning One Gin donates at least 10% of its profits to fund life-changing water projects in the world’s poorest communities. Launched on World Water Day in 2017, One Gin joins One’s range of ethical drinks that are working for a world in which everyone has access to clean and safe water, forever.
So far, the One Brand has raised over £19 million for water projects, transforming the lives over 3.5 million people in need.
Find out more at thespiritofone.com
Fourpure Brewing Co.
Since it was launched in 2013, this south London-based brewery has been committed to sustainability. While producing beer is undeniably resource intensive, using water, gas and energy and producing a considerable amount of waste, Fourpure strives to minimise its impact by canning its entire range in infinitely recyclable aluminium, with empty cans delivered in fully reusable packaging. Water and energy use is meticulously recorded in a bid for continuous improvement, and wastewater is recovered to use for cleaning, while spent grain is given away to a local urban farm.
Find out more at fourpure.com
Patrón Tequila
Tequila shot, anyone? Patrón tequila is produced with the environment in mind. Clean water is reclaimed from the tequila production and then used in cooling towers and for cleaning, a natural gas pipeline is the main energy source to help reduce CO2 emissions, and the brand is funding research into the sustainability of the Weber Blue Agave plant for the entire tequila industry. Leftover agave fibres are used to create more than 5,500 tonnes of fertiliser compost a year, and since 2015 approximately 16,000 trees have been reforested or donated in Patrón’s local community of Atotonilco el Alto, Jalisco.
Find out more at patrontequila.com
SOFT DRINKS
Karma Cola
Karma Cola was founded in 2010 with the aim of giving back, and produces Fairtrade-certified, organic fizzy drinks. The Karma Cola Foundation makes sure that the people who grow the ingredients, such as the cola nuts in Sierra Leone, get back from the people enjoying the drinks through projects that support the development of infrastructure and education.
Find out more at karmacola.co.uk
One ‘Butterfly’ Glass Water
One’s ethical drinks fund water projects around the world and have raised £17.4 million so far, changing 3.2 million lives. Its sparkling water bottle is made from 33% recycled glass and makes the perfect plastic-free, non-alcholic addition to your Christmas drinks table.
Find out more at onedifference.org
Luscombe
Luscombe was founded in 1975 on a farm in Devon, England. Its delicious soft drinks are made in Devon from certified organic fruits and are entirely free from concentrates, additives, colourings and other nasties.
Find out more at luscombe.co.uk
Flawsome
Start your Christmas morning with a Flawsome juice. Flawsome make juices out of ‘imperfect’ wonky fruit that won’t make it into supermarkets and would otherwise end up as food waste. This year, over seven million fruits have been saved and made into delicious juice. Additionally, the bottles are made from 100% recycled glass.
Find out more at flawsomedrinks.c
Whole Earth Coffee Alternative
Wake up on Christmas morning with Whole Earth’s coffee alternative. You might know Whole Earth for their healthy, wholesome and palm-oil free nut butters, but they also have a delicious coffee alternative made with natural ingredients such as guarana. The company is also certified carbon neutral.
Find out more at wholeearthfoods.com
Ugly Drinks
Ugly drinks are classic fizzy drinks with a twist, as they don’t use sugar, sweeteners or anything artificial. Ugly have also partnered with Girl Up to tackle ‘the ugly truth of global gender inequality’ by donating to the Leadership Programme, which trains teenage girls to take action and drive positive change.
Find out more at uglydrinks.co.uk
Lemon-aid
Lemon-aid make organic and Fairtrade-certified soft drinks. Each bottle purchased supports the Lemon-aid & ChariTea Foundation, which works on a variety of social projects in the regions where the ingredients are grown.
Find out more at lemon-aid.de
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For more food inspiration, see our simple palm oil alternatives and guide to where to start with plastic free food
See Danielle Copperman‘s twist on the classic mince pie recipe.