Social Media

Prioritize interesting ideas and visuals over statistics in order to resonate with followers. Share the use of distiller's spent grains on farms, local partnerships and wood conservation. 

Website

Offer a sustainability landing page listing valued numbers, detailed content and company initiatives. Those utilizing this page will be interested in a deeper dive. 

Distillery Tour

Take advantage of guests being on property. Pair scripts with experiences to help visitors better understand. A mix of feel-good stories and statistics can help ideas resonate with guests. 

Email

Customers who receive emails are interested in learning more about the distillery. Try sharing the path your barrel takes from grain to glass, not just for bourbon. Use this to promote wood conservation and reuse of materials. 

Avoid Greenwashing

Greenwashing involves misleading or vague "green" marketing to persuade the public. As an organization, setting realistic goals, staying transparent, and prioritizing proper education will keep you on track.

Whether it's helping local farmers feed livestock with stillage, or finding new ways to use post-consumer packaging, sharing your waste handling practices with customers can help drive engagement. 

Do You Share Your Spent Grains with Local Farmers?

Supporting local producers is a great way to build relationships and the economy. Specifically, sharing your leftover co-product reduces your waste while benefiting others in the community. 

Want to share the story? Post a photo of farm animals enjoying the spent grains; they love it, and your audience will too.

Do You Use Your Spent Grains in Unique Ways?

Many distilleries share stillage with local four-legged friends and farms. Have you tried something different? If your byproduct is utilized in baking, soap, fuel, etc., your customers would love to know. Be sure to highlight those methods in your gift shop or marketing.

Do You Recycle Your Glass?

Using recycled glass in packaging is a great way to reduce waste since it can be recycled endlessly! Make sure to tell your customers about packaging sustainability on social media and tours. 

Want to try something new? Try reusing empty bottles by cutting them off to sell in the gift shop as cups or filled with candles. It's a great way to get your brand out there in other ways, and you might inspire your customers to reuse their purchased products too.

Storytelling Over Statistics

You have a fantastic idea regarding your distillery's sustainability; how exactly do you share it? Start with a story. Audiences will best understand when they can see the picture you've painted. 

Then, back up the story with statistics to drive the message home. Here's an example: "Our partnerships with local farmers not only make for some happy cows, but those spent grain donations, along with our glass and barrel recycling programs, have helped us reduce our waste by 90%."

Where do you get your raw materials for making your spirits? Supply chain sustainability is an important part of crafting your brand's story. 

Do You Source Your Ingredients from Local Farms?

Having partnerships with local and family-run farms not only offers top quality ingredients, but builds a flourishing economy. Highlight individual stories of these relationships on tours and social media. Followers will appreciate the impact farmers make within the distillery and their local community.

Is Your Packaging Eco-Friendly?

Boxes, bottles and much more can be chances to become more environmentally friendly. Swap out bottles for recycled glass versions or find alternative options for paper and plastic materials. Small changes can make a big difference. 

Share the switch on social media to inspire your followers to try lifestyle changes that can have a better environmental impact. For example: "We started reusing cardboard from receiving to pack our bottles, reducing our cardboard waste by 40% and completely eliminating plastic packing materials for our products."

Where Do You Get Your Water?

One way distillers can share their individuality is through water. Whether it is from public supply or a natural spring, sharing the source creates transparency and tells a special story.

When sharing more about your water, take the opportunity to speak on how you reduce water consumption with systems like closed-loop cooling and recovered wastewater. Don't forget to highlight Kentucky's limestone-rich water when speaking and posting about your distillery's supply.

Storytelling Over Statistics

You have a fantastic idea regarding your distillery's sustainability; how exactly do you share it? Start with a story. Audiences will best understand when they can see the picture you've painted. 

Then, back up the story with statistics to drive the message home. Here's an example: "By sourcing our corn from local Kentucky XYZ farm, we not only help support our local community but we also reduce the emissions used for transporting grain over long distances."

Where do you get your energy for running your distillery? Tell your customers how much of your electricity comes from solar, or if you use groundwater for chilling to avoid energy use.

Do You Utilize Alternative or Renewable Energy?

If your distillery utilizes solar, water or wind energy, be sure to share your implemented efforts with others. This transition ensures clean power so shout out the facts. Educate guests on just how beneficial alternative and renewable energy is inside the distillery industry. Are you interested in estimating GHG reduction associated with electrification? Try utilizing the MEASUR tool for a usage estimate. 

Does Your Distillery Have Insulated Stills?

Insulating your stills can help create a more consistent, higher quality product in addition to utilizing less energy. Talk about a win-win. Thinking of fun ways to help the public better understand this concept? Get festive this winter season by posting a still sweater on social media. Your followers will have a laugh, and you can get the distillery into the cheery spirit.

Are You Thinking Outside the Box?

Creative distilleries come up with neat ideas. Brainstorm ways your program is different from the others and be sure to share it. A few ideas include collecting rain water, growing native plants, building a green roof, planting trees and keeping bees. Dive into resources like Bluegrass Green Source and Canopy KY to brainstorm more projects or goals. The possibilities are infinite when you take actions to support sustainability.

Storytelling Over Statistics

You have a fantastic idea regarding your distillery's sustainability; how exactly do you share it? Start with a story. Audiences will best understand when they can see the picture you've painted. 

Then, back up the story with statistics to drive the message home. Here's an example: "Our solar power energy not only gives our distillery a high-tech look, but also reduces our greenhouse gas emissions by 50%."

Wood is a key part of bourbon production, and a resource that is slow to regenerate. Communicate your contributions to responsible use of wood resources to help your customers understand how you're planning for the future.

Do You Participate in the White Oak Initiative?

The White Oak Initiative is committed to conserving distilleries' most popular species of oak tree. By joining the effort, your distillery is taking action to ensure this species and our beloved bourbon can flourish for generations to come. If you choose to team up, be sure to share the mission with all your bourbon consumers and enthusiasts online as well as during tours. 

Do Your Barrels Have a Role After Bourbon?

Bourbon barrels have a very important responsibility of caring for their oh-so-special distillate until it becomes perfectly aged bourbon. One must ask, however: What happens after the barrels are bottled? Tell the tale of your mighty barrels' happily ever after. Maybe they carry a new product, become furniture, or simply stand on display.

What Oak Species Are Your Barrels Made From?

Many consumers misunderstand the true rules when it comes to bourbon. Some assume barrels have to be made from white oak instead of any oak species. Help educate your audience by sharing the species you utilize in barrels and the char level. Whether it's the most popular combination or something unique, your consumers will try to taste the difference.

Storytelling Over Statistics

You have a fantastic idea regarding your distillery's sustainability; how exactly do you share it? Start with a story. Audiences will best understand when they can see the picture you've painted. 

Then, back up the story with statistics to drive the message home. Here's an example: "Because of our farm donations and glass and barrel recycling programs, we only send 3% of our sourced materials to waste."