The green, green path of gin…

While the environmental impact of eating red meat has been the source of bitter dispute between vegans and carnivores, that of drinking alcohol has seldom been questioned. However a collaboration between a Scottish gin distiller and the James Hutton Institute has looked into ways in which the carbon footprint of one of the country’s favourite tipples can be reduced.

“In real tangible terms of climate change impact, sipping two units of gin is similar to consuming a small serving (150 ml) of milk, or to driving one km in a petrol car,” said Theophile Lienhardt, lead author of the study which appeared in the journal, Environment International.

Several stages of the gin-making process require fossil fuel input, but by distilling peas – which fix their own nitrogen from the air – rather than the more normal grain, the use of ammonia nitrate fertiliser can be taken out of the equation

And pea gin is the product which has been trialled at the Arbikie Distillery near Arbroath. Kirsty Black, manager of the Arbikie Distillery, provided reassurance on the process to gin connoisseurs.

“Following two distillations to produce a neutral base spirit, botanicals including juniper and coriander can be used to produce a final gin that retains the same sumptuous, aromatic flavour as gin made from cereal grain spirit.”

Dr Pietro Iannetta, an agroecologist at the James Hutton Institute, said: “We found that the environmental footprint of pea gin was significantly lower than for wheat gin across 12 of 14 environmental impacts evaluated, from climate change, through water and air pollution, to fossil energy consumption.”