New London Light gives 1% for the Ocean
This Earth Day we are looking at brands that contribute to the well-being of our planet through various sustainability initiatives, one of the most interesting is the collaboration between British made 0% spirit New London Light and SeaTrees.
New London Light (or NLL for short) is a zesty, refreshing 0% spirit created by Salcombe Distilling Company, spirits experts based in the UK. Since launch, NLL has won the 2021 People’s Choice Award for ‘Mindful Drinking’ and was awarded Gold and 94 points by the Beverage Testing Institute in their ‘Conscious Spirits’ review.
The company has a great interest in sustainability and ocean protection, being based on the southwest coast of England; at one of the world’s only distilleries directly accessibly by boat. Here they tell us about their sustainability program, including their 1% for the Ocean campaign:
Love of the ocean
Our distillery is based in the coastal location of Salcombe, Devon and is positioned right by the water’s edge. The company was created because of a love of sailing (the two co-founders met whilst teaching at the local sailing club) and water is at the heart of everything we do. It is vital for us to actively protect our oceans and communicate the value of ocean conservation and sustainability. We have a brilliant campaign ‘1% for the Ocean’ where we donate 1% of the recommended shelf price to marine conservation charities, the Marine Conservation Society in the UK and SeaTrees in the US.
Every bottle makes a difference
For every bottle of New London Light sold in the US, we donate 1% to SeaTrees to help fund their Giant Kelp Reforestation Projects in California. Kelp ecosystems are in a state of crisis, in some parts of California, more than 90% of kelp forests have disappeared in the last 10 years. The latest science shows that globally, kelp forests can sequester more carbon than mangrove forests, restoring these sequoias of the sea is critical to solving climate change. Kelp forests provide habitat and food for over 700 species of algae, invertebrates, and fish and fast-growing kelp naturally sequesters carbon when allowed to thrive and grow. So far we have restored over 3600 ft² of Giant Kelp via our donations to SeaTrees.
Company wide manifesto
Salcombe is an iconic coastal destination filled with luxury homes, we need to ensure every part of our business incorporates our values and share these with our community and there’s lots of things we are currently doing to help reduce our carbon footprint and reduce waste within our business.
We have significantly reduced the use of plastics in our supply chain and have sourced a bottle stopper that is made from recycled ocean-bound plastic and is 100% recyclable, it’s our way of helping to ‘turn off the tap’ on plastic entering our oceans*. One of the most innovative things we do in the UK is our Gin refill scheme; customers can return to our stores with an empty bottle of Salcombe Gin and we'll refill it for a 10% discount, providing a much better solution to recycling!
The New London Light difference
Not only is NLL good for the planet, but the product itself is created to be better for you. We launched New London Light in 2020 as a reaction to the growing trend of consumers making healthier lifestyles choices, which included non-alcoholic drinks. We have distilled exceptional Gin since 2016 and wanted to see if we could take the same principle of combining great quality botanicals to make complex layers of flavor, in a zero-proof spirit that is comparable to world class gins such as Salcombe Gin. We didn’t want people to compromise on quality just because they are choosing not to drink alcohol and we didn’t feel that the bar had been set very high by the brands and products that were in the market at the time.
Crafted with care
NLL is created by first distilling three botanicals: rich Macedonian juniper berries, ginger and habanero capsicum. Fifteen additional botanicals are then blended into a base liquid delivering complex layers with hints of citrus orange and sage. We chose to produce a Juniper forward spirit as this is going to be the most familiar to us and to our loyal customers, but as an idea to re-create the kick of alcohol we used ginger and habanero capsicum. These flavors are balanced by fresh citrus and herbaceous sage, giving NLL a really complex flavor profile. We don’t use any artificial colors, flavors and don’t add any sugar, salt or other synthetic chemicals that many other brands include, it is 100% and uncompromising in its approach.