LONDON 24 JULY 2021 This month, ecoSPIRITS is celebrating its official European launch with one of the continent’s most storied hotels, The Savoy Hotel London, and the acclaimed Portobello Road Gin from Notting Hill in the British capital. Together, the companies have teamed up to create one of Europe’s most sustainable cocktail serves, The Co-Naissance Cocktail. This special serve – which is the first cocktail in Europe to use the ecoSPIRITS low waste, low carbon spirits technology – will be available at The Beaufort Bar and the Thames Foyer through the month of September.
The Co-Naissance Cocktail by The Savoy Hotel
Located on the Thames River in the heart of London, The Savoy has been one of the world’s most iconic luxury hotels for more than 130 years. The first purpose-built deluxe hotel in Britain when it opened in 1889, The Savoy has, fittingly, long been known for innovation. Over the many decades since its opening, the hotel introduced a range of innovations to the London and European market, from central hot water boilers, in-room light switches and modernised kitchen layouts in the early years to the first computerised guest records in 1984. With the hospitality industry now looking towards a more sustainable future, it is a natural fit for The Savoy to become the first hotel in Europe to serve low carbon, low waste spirits to its guests.
Beaufort Bar, The Savoy Hotel
The Thames Foyer, The Savoy Hotel
Jan-Peer Lehfeldt, Executive Assistant Manager, Food & Beverage, The Savoy
“We are on a journey to revolutionise how cocktails are developed and produced and this is just the first step, but it’s a significant one. It reflects The Savoy’s commitment to reducing waste and actively supporting the environment. We plan to continue and expand our collaboration with ecoSPIRITS – so watch this space! And we really hope that other hotels, bars and restaurants will follow suit as this can only benefit our industry and the environment.”
For a ‘Made in London’ celebratory serve, The Savoy and ecoSPIRITS selected a native spirit, London’s own Portobello Road Gin. Made from a base spirit from English-grown wheat by ninth generation distiller Charles Maxwell of The Thames Distillery, Portobello Road No. 171 Gin features juniper berries and orris from Tuscany, Spanish lemon peels, bitter orange peels from Haiti or Morocco, nutmeg from Indonesia and cassia bark from South East Asia. As an official ecoSPIRITS Climate Partner, Portobello Road Gin is now available to on-trade venues in London in ecoTOTE™ format through Mangrove UK.
Portobello Road Gin, an ecoSPIRITS Climate Partner
The Ginstitute on Portobello Road in London
Jake F. Burger, Co-Founder, Portobello Road Gin
“One of the proudest moments of my career was seeing a bottle of Portobello Road Gin on the shelves of the American Bar at The Savoy shortly after we first launched. To now be working with them on such a worthwhile endeavour as carbon emission reduction is a dream come true. I can’t wait to visit my favourite hotel bar in the world, enjoy a Co-Naissance Cocktail, congratulate Shannon Tebay on her new appointment as Head Bartender at the American Bar, and to know that in some small way we’ll be helping the world.”
Cristian Silenzi, Senior Mixologist at The Savoy
An environmentally-friendly cocktail developed by Senior Mixologist at The Savoy, Cristian Silenzi, the Co-Naissance Cocktail is the first cocktail in Europe to use the ecoSPIRITS low waste, low carbon spirits technology. This special serve brings together Portobello Road Gin in ecoTOTE™ format, re-carbonated Champagne, and two unique locally foraged London ingredients, elderflower from Little Venice and fig leaves from Embankment Gardens. The name ‘Co-Naissance’ celebrates both knowledge of the past and new beginnings, vital themes as the world emerges from a challenging period and looks to a more sustainable future.
“We are always looking for ways to innovate, so when I learnt that we were going to be working with ecoSPIRITS it made sense to me to source or create other elements to the cocktail that were sustainable as they could possibly be. So with Portobello Road Gin and our foraged ingredients we went hyper-local, and by re-carbonating Champagne, we were able to avoid waste in a premium ingredient. It is really exciting to work on new projects like this and I am proud of this collaboration and of the Co-Naissance Cocktail, which in a short time has proved to be really popular with our guests”
The ecoSPIRITS closed loop system eliminates more than 90% of the carbon emissions footprint associated with the packaging and transport of the Portobello Road Gin at the heart of the cocktail. Re-carbonated Champagne, using premium Champagne from the hotel’s restaurant service, upcycles a valuable resource that would otherwise be discarded. Local foraging of ingredients from urban London complements the sustainability theme, further minimizing carbon emissions and agricultural impact. Finally, to further the positive impact of the cocktail, ecoSPIRITS, Portobello Road Gin and The Savoy are planting one native tree in the endangered Kalimantan rainforest in Borneo, Indonesia for each Co-Naissance Cocktail served. Overall, the Co-Naissance Cocktail involves no packaging or ingredient waste, no single use glass and eliminates more than 1.8kg of C02 emissions per cocktail through waste reduction and reforestation.
ecoSPIRITS will be officially available to on trade venues in the United Kingdom from 1 August 2021. In addition to Portobello Road Gin, the launch will see a range of new spirits become available in ecoTOTE™ format. ecoSPIRITS closed loop service will be available in additional European markets before the end of 2021.
To book a table at The Savoy, please email or call +44 (0) 20 7836 4343. For more information on ecoSPIRITS in the United Kingdom, please contact ecoSPIRITS or Mangrove Global.
About The Savoy
The Savoy is the UK’s most historic luxury hotel. Right on the River Thames, it is perfectly placed at the cultural heart of one of the world’s most exciting cities. 267 rooms and suites are accompanied by some of the most well-known restaurants and bars in London, alongside magnificent and varied meeting and events space. The Savoy’s legendary service creates wonderful memories to last a lifetime. You don’t just stay at The Savoy, The Savoy stays with you.
For more information, please visit The Savoy London
About Portobello Road Gin
In late 2011, nestled above a 19th century drinking den on London’s world famous Portobello Road, three longtime friends; Ged Feltham, Jake Burger & Paul Lane decided, after amassing a staggering collection of gin and alcoholic artifacts, to open The Ginstitute, London’s premier gin making class. In the nine months of experimentation that followed, the character of their very own gin was slowly created, thus Portobello Road No. 171 was born. A timeless London Dry saluting the distillers of the past using nine time-honoured botanicals. Born on something of a whim, Portobello Road Gin has quickly established itself as a favourite amongst connoisseur consumers, bartenders and gin fans alike. Taking home its first gold medal at International Spirits Competition in 2013 and collecting awards ever since, it seems the judges are fans too.
For more information, please visit Portobello Road Gin