Clonakilly Distillery Details Sustainability Actions

Clonakilly Distillery, a family-run distillery on the south-western Irish Coast, said it is fully supportive of the "Cool Clon" initiatie, which is committed to the the town of Clonakilly entirely off the grid to become Ireland's first energy self-sufficient town.  

Clonakilty Distillery’s portfolio of spirits is available nationwide at select retailers and includes Clonakilty Single Batch Double Oak (SRP $49.99), Clonakilty Port Cask ($52.99), Clonakilty Single Malt Bordeaux Finish (SRP $49.99), Minke Gin (SRP $29.99) and Minke Irish Vodka (SRP $22.99)

“We are always looking for ways to improve and optimize our methods”, said founder Michael Scully. “In the next few months, we will create a permanent wildflower meadow with over 100 mature trees and 400 native hedgerows and shrubs in an effort to enhance biodiversity within our beautiful region. In addition, we aim to reduce energy consumption by a minimum of 10% with the introduction of additional advanced heat recovery technologies and eliminating the use of single-use plastic from our whiskey packaging as well as reducing average glass weight by up to 30% ”

Additional concrete measures and goals for Clonakilty Distillery include:

• Minimizing carbon footprint by keeping 90% of production operations within their local area
• Supporting maritime charities and causes, such as the local Inchydoney Inshore Lifeboat Group and the global  “Whale and Dolphin Conservation”
• Recycling 100% of their co-products to local farmers to use as fertilizer or animal feed
• Substituting 50% unmalted barley for malted barley in their single pot still production recipe to save energy during the malting process
• Capturing and recycling excess heat production from their copper pot stills
• Using predominantly renewable energy sources
• Recirculating the water in their cooling system, leading to reduction in water usage
• Sourcing the water used to cut their new make spirit from a deep well on the family farm
• Using barley that is either home grown or supplied locally by Irish farmers
• Sourcing the milk used in whey-based spirits from the family farm or neighboring farmers
• Practicing the min-till system on their farm grown grain, which promotes long term soil health
• Reusing, recycling and/or composting 98% of their packaging materials