It was less than two years ago that we travelled to London to pick up an award. This particular award meant a great deal to us. It wasn't the quality of our spirits that was being judged, but rather our commitment to sustainability and the environment. We were honoured with the Amorim Sustainability Award from the magazine The Drinks Business. Our energy management truly blew the jury away. Last week we harvested miscanthus again, and as we did, we looked back with pride on that award ceremony in London.

11 Hectares of Miscanthus for Our Energy

We farm 45 hectares of organic land. On 11 of those, we grow miscanthus. The grass is also known as elephant grass, or sometimes Chinese silver grass. Miscanthus is a head-high grass that is also an extraordinarily efficient energy source. To put its potential into perspective, here's a quick comparison: 1 hectare of miscanthus yields the same amount of energy as 6,500 litres of heating oil. Across our growing area, that adds up to the equivalent of over 70,000 litres of heating oil — only it's not a fossil fuel that will run out in the foreseeable future, but energy from grass that grows back year after year. The crop we harvested last week will heat the distilling kettles of our distillery for an entire year. Any surplus energy is fed into the local community grid, keeping the children at the kindergarten and the firefighters in their ready rooms warm and comfortable.

The harvest itself was a real pleasure. With a blue sky overhead, pear trees in blossom and summer-like temperatures, working in the fields becomes even more enjoyable. The videos below offer a glimpse of the harvest day.

For us, sustainability is far more than just a buzzword. Nothing matters more to us than treating our natural environment with respect. It is the very foundation of everything we do. Without an intact environment, the production of truly outstanding products — in our case our distillates and liqueurs — simply wouldn't be possible.

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