Sustainability Case Study
2023
Boatyard Distillery June
Boatyard Distillery
BoatyardDistillery is Fermanagh’sfirstlegal distillery since 1890, takingits name fromthe disusedBoatyardit is built on. Localman,Joe McGirr, set upthe Distillery in 2016 with an ambitiontomake a gin so perfect forMartinisthat it wouldbe poured in the world’s finest bars andrestaurantsaroundthe world.
Why did sustainability become such a big featureof your business?
“Sustainability was always important to the business. That said, we didn’t set out to create a sustainable business. We set out to become a great gin distillery. We took decisions that would not fall under the word ‘sustainability’, but they were practical decisions that make sense on many levels. A sustainable approach is a practical approach and it just made sense to us at every step of the journey.”
Joe McGirr, Boatyard Distillery
Sustainability Case Study: Boatyard Distillery
What have the key sustainability initiatives been?
Becominga B Corp Boatyard
The businesslaunched a Green Team called ‘Better Boatyard’in 2022 with the taskof improvingthe overall sustainabilityand governance of the business.Through the Better BoatyardJourney, the businessbroughtin many changes across itsprocesses. In 2023, BoatyardDistillery became the firstdistillery on the islandof Ireland to gain the prestigiousB Corp Certification. This is an internationaland coveted designation thata businessis meeting high standardsofverified performance,accountability,and transparencyon factors fromemployee benefits andcharitable giving to supplychain practices andinput materials.
“OurjourneytoBCorpstatusbroughtaboutamindsetshiftinthe businessandinspiredtheteamtoconstantlyimproveontheir practices.Everyonehaschangedinthebusiness.Theirwayof thinkinghaschanged.Theideasareflowingnow”Joe
McGirr, BoatyardDistilleryA CircularDistillery
BoatyardDistillery has created a culture within the businessof repurposingand reusingitems to combat waste.Here are some of the practices in place:
• Bottles are made fromrecycled flint glass
• Bottle labels are madefromrecycled paper andproduced by James Cropper a leading businessin circulardesign for fibre recovery
• Shipping cartonsare madefromrecycled pulp
• Pallet wrapis madeof recycled pallet wrap
• Businesscards are madeof recycled Costa Coffee cups
• Promotionalgiftbags are made of recycled Kraft card
• Some gin fruit is sent to local cocktailbars for their drinks
• Other fruit fromgin productiongoes to an Indianchutney producer andothers madeinto a new Boatyard marmalade
• Botanicals created fromgin production are used as a signatureingredient in the BoatyardBean to barchocolate
• Sloes fromgin production are used to produce a Sloe boat conserve
• Remainder of solid wastegoes to compostingandliquid wastegoes to anaerobicdigesters which give electric back into the grid
• Old Tom barrels are repurposed to makefurniture
• Spent grain fromvodka productionis sent to the family farmand usedto feed animals.
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Sustainability Case Study: Boatyard Distillery
Waste ReductionInnovation – Refillable Gin
By takingawayglassbottles fromvisitoroperationsat the distillery andoffering an eco-refill pouch for locals to refill, while availingof a £10 discount,within three monthsthe Boatyardsaved:
• 211 glassbottles andpackaging
• 2% of distillery-based packagingin total
• up to 380kgof Carbon
Glass bottles are57% liquid and43% packagingwhereas the eco-refill pouches are98% liquid. Eco refill pouches can be sent back via FreePost to the distillery and refilled. In addition,all bottles are shipped with minimalrecycled packagingthrough the useof HexiFlex
Do you know?
BoatyardDistillery is part of the Embrace a Giant Spirit Distillery Trail.
Check it out:NI Spirits Trail | Discover Northern Ireland
What are your sustainability ambitions for the future?
“Our goal is, to be the leadingIrish gin distillery makingsustainable spirits whilegiving our teamtheir best possible adventure.We’re not perfect. We are very far from perfect, but at leastwe haveour head out of the sand. Manufacturingis energy intensive,andit's not an environmentallyfriendly process. So we've got an uphill struggle that we wantto meetheadon. We are trying to get the metrics and wantto cut our carbon footprint by 25% this year.We are on track and it will be independentlymeasure.We're working with Invest NI to get scalabilityassessment, environmentalimpact assessment. We are working on our path to netzero.”
Joe McGirr,BoatyardDistillery
