ecoSPIRITS Will Launch in India, Bringing Low Waste Spirits to One of the World’s Fastest Growing Consumer Economies
MUMBAI 15 November 2021 – ecoSPIRITS announced that it has signed a Licensed Operator Agreement for India with Third Eye Distillery, a leading local craft spirits producer known for their award-winning Stranger & Sons Gin. The parties will launch closed loop service progressively across the country in 2022, starting in Goa, Maharashtra and Karnataka in February. The new partnership will bring low waste, low carbon spirits packaging technology to one of the world’s most populous countries, and the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases after China and the United States.
Home to almost 1.4 billion people, India is one of the most important, and fastest growing, consumer markets in the world. In recent years, the market for premium and craft spirits has begun to evolve quickly, fueled by the emergence of craft cocktail bars, proudly ‘Made in India’ craft spirits producers, and a young, affluent consumer demographic with an interest in quality, provenance and brand. Given India’s size, and status as a developing economy, the country is a critical piece in the climate change solution puzzle. There are some promising signs on this front: at COP26, the United Nations climate conference taking place in Glasgow this month, the Indian Government made a series of new pledges, including to reduce India’s carbon emissions by one billion tonnes by 2030 and to achieve Net Zero Emissions by 2070.
Great Himalayan National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Sidecar Bar in New Delhi, one of Asia's 50 Best Bars
Bandra-Worli Sea Link, Mumbai
Founded in 2018, Sakshi Saigal, Rahul Mehra and Vidur Gupta set up Third Eye Distillery and transformed the spirits landscape in India by launching the first Indian Gin in the premium space. They were the first to explore contemporary style Gins in India with their flagship brand, Stranger & Sons that received international accolades and connected with a global audience. The trio chose Goa with its diverse expanse of spice farms as the location for their distillery where they innovate and explore new extensions to create quality homegrown products. Third Eye Distillery pioneered sustainable practices right from its inception with the distillation of the spirit to their most recent partnership with ecoSPIRITS to provide a revolutionary platform for the Indian spirits industry.
Vidur Gupta, Rahul Mehra, and Sakshi Saigal, Co-founders, Third Eye Distillery
“We’re extremely excited to be the exclusive partners for ecoSPIRITS in India. We look forward to pioneering the sustainability movement in the Indian spirits landscape by bringing this platform to India and making it available to all spirits brands, imported and homegrown. We believe ecoSPIRITS will be a game-changer in moving the Indian spirits market towards a zero net carbon trajectory and helping the country achieve its sustainability goals. We are thrilled to work with brands to make this closed-loop distribution model accessible to all.”
Paul Gabie, CEO, ecoSPIRITS
“India is a market that is close to my heart, having lived there for two years earlier in my career. It is also one of the most challenging markets in the world for independent and imported spirits brands. To be able to bring the sustainability and commercial benefits of ecoSPIRITS in one of my favourite places is a highlight. Given India’s size as both a consumer market and contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, it is a strategic market for ecoSPIRITS. We are excited to get started reducing single use glass there with such capable partners.”
Stranger & Sons Gin, Third Eye Distillery’s flagship product, is India’s leading craft gin by volume. Launched in 2018 and produced in Goa, Stranger & Sons Gin was conceived to celebrate the agricultural diversity and abundance of India and its love affair with spices. It captures the spirit of India, in a spirit from India that is produced with nine botanicals from local Goan farms, markets and spice vendors. Now exported to Singapore, the United Kingdom, Thailand, Taiwan, New Zealand and the UAE, Stranger & Sons Gin has picked up a host of international awards, including being declared one of the 8 best gins in the world in 2020 by the International Wine & Spirit Competition to winning the highest honours at The Asian Spirits Masters 2021 and their most recent Gold medal at the Gin Masters 2021. With the launch of ecoSPIRITS in India, Stranger & Sons Gin will become the first Indian spirit to be available in low waste packaging format.
The launch of closed loop service in India will also make the market more accessible and sustainable for imported premium spirits, a well-known challenge in the industry. ecoSPIRITS India will participate in the ecoSPIRITS Climate Partner Program, which grants a wide range of spirit brands and their importers, distributors and wholesalers with access to our global closed loop network. Plantation Rum, the world’s number one super premium rum brand and an ecoSPIRITS Climate Partner since 2019, will become the first imported spirit available in India in ecoTOTE™ format. This transition will make Plantation Rum the most sustainable premium rum offering in the Indian market. With the packaging waste and transport cost savings of the ecoSPIRITS system, Plantation Rum will be available at a reduced on-trade price point, making it more accessible to the Indian bar community.
Angélique Jullienne, Global Marketing and Communication Director for Maison Ferrand
“We, at Plantation Rum, are delighted starting off this new collaboration with ecoSPIRITS and Third Eye Distillery in a very important and rapidly growing consumer market like India. We are convinced that the future of our industry will be driven by projects like ecoSPIRITS. This sustainable initiative echoes our values and actions talk louder than words with us. For this reason, our distillery, West Indies Rum Distillery, will become the first zero-carbon footprint distillery in Barbados by 2030. Collaborating with ecoSPIRITS completes this engagement.”
ecoPLANT No. 023 will be commissioned at Third Eye Distillery’s existing Goa facility, initially providing closed loop processing for the entire India channel network. Additional ecoPLANTS are planned as the national distribution network develops over time. The Third Eye Distillery team will bring substantial Indian regulatory, licensing and spirits production expertise to the new Licensed Operator partnership. Like all ecoSPIRITS Licensed Operators, they will receive comprehensive support from the ecoSPIRITS closed loop engineering team.
Goa is known for its beaches, idyllic settings dot the coastline
ecoPLANT No. 023 will be located in Goa
As in other markets, ecoSPIRITS will work closely with leading hospitality operators in India, helping them reduce their single use waste and making premium spirits more affordable for house pours and cocktail lists.
Rakshay Dhariwal, Managing Director, Pass Code Hospitality
“As an entrepreneur with multiple ventures in the hospitality industry, I’m concerned about the environment and am excited to work towards a sustainable future. This partnership gives us a platform to champion the sustainability movement. Providing spirits in ecoTOTE™ format will indeed help us reduce the environmental impact of our operations and be the perfect solution for reducing our carbon footprint!”
Sameer Seth, Founder & CEO, Hunger Inc
“This is a ground-breaking opportunity that takes us one step closer to ending single use glass and other associated packaging material through a closed loop system! I’m extremely excited about how this will enable hospitality teams to serve spirits in a socially responsible manner and I’m eager to see the impact it’s going to have on our industry in the long run as well.”
ecoSPIRITS closed loop service will be available in Goa, Maharashtra and Karnataka from February 2022. Bars, restaurants, hotels, distributors and brands that are interested in joining the ecoSPIRITS Climate Partner Program in India can get in touch via email at [email protected] or [email protected]
About Third Eye Distillery
Established in 2018, Third Eye Distillery was founded by Sakshi Saigal, Rahul Mehra and Vidur Gupta with the vision of redefining the spirits landscape of the Indian market. They were the first to explore contemporary style Gins in India with their flagship spirit, Stranger & Sons, which has garnered praise and recognition across the globe. Through pioneering innovations that are built consciously, Third Eye Distillery aims to elevate the homegrown spirits market and uplift India’s cocktail culture.
About Stranger & Sons Gin
The spirit of India in a spirit from India.
Stranger & Sons is a contemporary Indian Gin, the debut spirit from Third Eye Distillery in Goa, founded in 2018 by Rahul Mehra, Sakshi Saigal and Vidur Gupta. Crafted with inherently Indian botanicals including a unique citrus peel mix and warm spices such as pepper, mace and nutmeg, they built a three-dimensional gin that is proudly Indian and true to its origin. Inspired by the country’s agricultural wealth, entrepreneurial spirit and rather wonderfully strange traditions, Stranger & Sons was launched as an Indian spirited gin created in contemporary India, a country that is diverse, nuanced and eccentric.
Starting out as early innovators in the Indian Gin category to winning awards at multiple international spirit competitions, they’ve managed to put Indian Gin on the world map and continue to work towards showcasing India’s diversity to the rest of the world!
*Currently available in Goa, Maharashtra, Delhi, Karnataka and Rajasthan within India and the United Kingdom, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates, internationally.
For more information, please visit https://www.strangerandsons.com/
About Plantation Rum
Plantation Rums, in their instantly recognizable raffia-wrapped bottles, are served at the world’s finest tables and in the most prestigious bars. The fruit of a unique savoir-faire, they express the flavors of the terroirs of rum in fascinating expressions whose double ageing technique has become a true trademark. The Plantation range, through its originality and quality, has conquered the hearts of rum lovers around the world. Multi-awarded expressions like Stiggins’ Fancy Pineapple and Barbados XO 20th Anniversary are now classics.
For more information, please visit https://www.plantationrum.com/
ecoSPIRITS to Launch in Thailand & Vietnam, Strengthening Its Asia Pacific Network
BANGKOK 9 November 2021 ecoSPIRITS announced today that it has signed a Licensed Operator Agreement for Thailand and Vietnam with a new company formed as joint venture between Bootleggers Trading, a leading Thai craft spirits distributor, and Chalong Bay Distillery, an award-winning craft rum distillery in Phuket. The new joint venture will launch closed loop service in Thailand in January 2022, with service in Vietnam following several months later. With this latest announcement, ecoSPIRITS’ closed loop network covers the majority of Asia Pacific’s leading spirits markets. More details regarding the launch of ecoSPIRITS Vietnam will be announced in January 2022.
Home to a population of almost 70 million, Thailand is one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations and a fast-rising force in Asia’s bar and cocktail community. In 2020, five Bangkok bars landed on Asia’s 50 Best Bars, including The Bamboo Bar at the Mandarin Oriental Bangkok, Tropic City, Backstage Cocktail Bar, Vesper and Teens of Thailand. The Thai bar community is known for its vibrant hospitality, creative use of ingredients and flavour and deep pool of talent. With a rich natural heritage made up of lush highland rainforests, ancient limestone karst formations, white sand beaches and clear blue waters, Thailand is also home to some of the world’s finest hotels and resorts. The combination of a vibrant local hospitality scene and a highly developed luxury tourism sector make Thailand a leading Southeast Asian market for premium spirits.
Benchamabophit Temple, Bangkok
Phang Nga Bay, Phuket
The Bamboo Bar, Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok
Federico Balzarini, Head Bartender, Vesper
“Our hospitality industry is as beautiful as Mother Earth and ecoSPIRITS is taking care of both, minimizing waste and environmental impact. All this is accompanied by a clever design and stunning branding. If then we add the fact that the spirits available in ecoTOTE format are also delicious… Being eco–friendly has never been so easy.”
Vesper in Bangkok is one of Asia’s 50 Best Bars
Philip Bischoff, Four Seasons APAC Beverage Ambassador & Beverage Manager, Four Seasons, Bangkok
“I am really excited that ecoSPIRITS is officially launching in Thailand. It is incredibly important to me and to our industry that we work together to reduce waste and the C02 footprint. Having the ability to help the environment, while saving costs, is amazingly impactful and I look forward to the continued rollout of new markets and cities in the near future.”
The stunning Four Seasons Bangkok at Chao Phraya River, which opened in 2020
As part of the new joint venture, two new ecoPLANTs, Serial Nos. 18 and 24, will be commissioned in Bangkok and Phuket to provide a network of closed loop service in Thailand. A third ecoPLANT is planned for Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in 2022.
ecoPLANT No. 018 will be located in Bangkok, Thailand
ecoPLANT No. 024 will be located in Phuket, Thailand
Founded in Bangkok in 2014 by Minway Chi, Bootleggers Trading is an importer, educator and producer of craft spirits. Bootleggers’ exclusive distribution portfolio of craft and premium spirit brands include Plantation Rum, Citadelle Gin, Ferrand Cognac, Mancino Vermouth, Widges Gin, Tried & True Vodka, Chartreuse, Kavalan Whisky and Black Tears Rum. Bootleggers will bring its lengthy experience with Thai spirits import, distribution and brand building to the new joint venture.
Minway Chi, Founder, Bootleggers Trading Co., LTD
“As an importer, producer, and distributor, the Bootleggers Team sees first hand the carbon costs associated with moving spirits around the world. With no official recycling scheme available in Thailand, it falls to us as the source to also be the solution. That is why our team is proud to be a part of the ecoSPIRITS low carbon revolution, bringing quality products in an environmentally impactful way to hospitality teams throughout Thailand. That we can do this and help save costs is just the cherry on top.”
Founded in Phuket in 2012 by Thibault Spithakis and Marine Lucchini, Chalong Bay Rum is one of Southeast Asia’s best-known craft spirit producers. Blending the traditional art of French distillation with the rich sugarcane heritage of Thailand, the distillery produces a range of handcrafted rums from 100% organic, first-press Thai sugar cane using a traditional French copper still and Saneha gin. Over the years, Chalong Bay Rums have picked up a number of international awards, including Gold, Double Gold, Best in Class, or Consumer’s Choice Award at renowned international competitions. They are currently distributed in Thailand, Singapore, France and working on expanding their international presence. The distillery will host ecoPLANT No. 024 in Phuket and provide its extensive technical, production and operational expertise to ecoSPIRITS Thailand.
Thibault Spithakis, Founder, Chalong Bay Rum
“Sustainability has always been the driving principle of our project and brands. Joining the closed loop system is a natural development and a great opportunity to continue and extend our effort from production to distribution. We tried to implement recycling programs collecting bottles from clients for years but it has always been very difficult to scale, and ecoSPIRITS disruptive model is clearly providing a very smart, comprehensive, and efficient system benefiting all stakeholders and society.”
Chalong Bay’s award-winning rums will be available in ecoTOTE™ format across Thailand
Paul Gabie, CEO, ecoSPIRITS
“Our expansion of closed loop service to Thailand and Vietnam strengthens our Asia Pacific network, adding two of the fastest growing spirits markets in the region. We have tremendous admiration for what Thibault and Minway and their teams have achieved in contributing to the remarkable evolution of spirits production and distribution in Thailand over the past decade. Together, we can now contribute to the next chapter of spirits innovation in the region – one that has sustainable principles at its core.”
ecoSPIRITS closed loop service will be available in Thailand from January 2022. A more detailed announcement regarding ecoSPIRITS Vietnam will be released the same month. Bars, restaurants, hotels, distributors and brands that are interested in joining the ecoSPIRITS Climate Partner Program in Thailand or Vietnam can get in touch via email at [email protected] or [email protected] or [email protected]
About Bootleggers Trading
Bootleggers Trading was founded in 2014, as a spirits importer, producer, and educator by Minway Chi. Our team provides some of the most recognizable and most awarded independent spirits brands from around the world into the hands of Thailand’s top cocktail bars, restaurants, and specialty retailers. With a focus on quality brands and an intensive advocacy program, our team of passionate individuals helps promote and elevate the vibrant Thai cocktail and beverage industry.
For more information, please visit https://www.bootleggerstrading.com/
About Chalong Bay Distillery
Chalong Bay’s was born from the dream to unite two heritages and bring the French Caribbean tradition of Agricole rum distillation back to the origin of sugarcane. Their purpose is to create super premium craft spirits that are natural, authentic, with a unique Thai character, marrying traditions and craft production methods that are sustainable and respectful of the environment and the community.
All Chalong Bay expressions are created using first-press, natural sugarcane juice from 100% pure, organic, single variety Thai sugarcane that has been hand-cut and grown without chemical pesticides or fertilizers by local farmers.
Their recently launched Saneha Gin is crafted following the same principles and using local ingredients and botanicals such as Phuket pineapple, ginger flower, or makwan among others.
But, more than a rum and a gin, Chalong Bay is a Spirit. They are a family that carries the spirit of care and dedication. They cherish doing things naturally and authentically, refusing to compromise on quality and sustainability while respecting their communities and environment
For more information, please visit www.chalongbay.com and www.saneha.co.th