This summer, family-run artisan gin brand Penrhos Spirits called Herefordshire fruit farmers together to help them save rejected raspberries and tackle food waste. Founders Charlie Turner and Dickie Williams, both hailing from farming backgrounds, noticed the amount of imperfect fruit that would go to waste, unable to be sold to supermarkets. So Penrhos’ award-winning Wonky Raspberry Gin was born – a small batch of the highest quality, made from wonky raspberries, grain spirit, and natural water, all packaged in a recycled aluminium bottle.
This summer, Penrhos Spirits has saved 52,000 raspberries from being wasted, with help from multiple farms across Herefordshire and consumers buying the Wonky Raspberry Gin at Sainsburys. Data from LEAF has shown that up to 20% of raspberries go to waste every year, and with Penrhos Spirits calling for aid from local fruit farmers and consumers, the raspberries they have rescued have made over 4000 bottles of Wonky Raspberry Gin, and saved 1680 punnets of raspberries from going to waste.
Penrhos Spirits has long been dedicated to creating not only a delicious product, but a sustainable one too. Last year they began a partnership with Oddbox, through which they created their ‘deliciously odd’ limited edition Cucumber and Apple Gin, made with waste products rescued by Oddbox. Now, increasing their efforts to reduce food wastage even more, Penrhos Spirits continues to pave the way in the production of environmentally friendly spirits.
But the fact that summer is over doesn’t mean that their efforts for sustainability are slowing down. For next year, Penrhos Spirits is aiming to save even more raspberries, and they continue to pave the way for all alcohol brands, big and small, to rehome their spirits in more sustainable packaging, with Penrhos’ 100% recycled aluminium bottles improving their carbon footprint by 91%.
