Grin and Gin!
In a bid to prevent an estimated 166 million rogue grapes from being wasted, fruit supplier Richard Hochfield and Foxhole Spirits have teamed up to create Hyke Gin.
A Cocktail for Success?
Hyke Gin is made from table grapes (not the wine type). Every year the UK imports hundreds of tonnes of grapes from abroad including Egypt, South Africa and Chile. Some grapes are rejected, because of their shape, wrinkles or size of the bunches.
These grapes ended up being used as animal feed or thrown into an aerobic digester…until now.
The otherwise wasted grapes are producing a “bouncy light” premium gin that will be sold in 300 Tesco stores throughout the UK. No sour grapes here!
Launch date 18th March!
The £20bn Food Waste Cost
Currently the UK produces £20bn worth of food waste… the same figure that Chancellor Philip Hammond is proposing will end austerity!
It’s not only a big cost for the pocket – but also the environment! That “cost” equates to: wasted land, wasted water, wasted fertiliser, wasted farming, wasted transport, wasted… the list goes on and on!
We love the idea of using “waste” to produce and they are not the only booozy de-wasters. Like our friends over at Toast Ale, who brew beer with fresh surplus bread. Or Dash Water who use wonky fruit and veg in their sparkling water drinks. Their cucumber sparkling water would go perfectly with some Hyke Gin!
Ginspiration!
Drink like your planet depends on it – get wasted on what would have been wasted! OK – we take that back, drink responsibly!
But, gin doesn’t need to be served with a biiig old plastic bottle of tonic… according to the Craft Gin Club there are many other options.
We like the idea of gin and cordial or switching a your air-mile happy lemon for a few slithers of seasonal fruit (at the moment in the UK it’s rhubarb & gooseberries).
