SINGAPORE 17 October 2022 Pernod Ricard and ecoSPIRITS have launched a portfolio of co-branded circular hardware to service leading bars, restaurants and hotels across Singapore. This pilot project marks an important milestone in a larger-scale collaboration between the two companies, paving the way to further rollouts beyond Singapore. The collaboration in Singapore will eventually cover at least 30 venues, including Republic Bar Singapore, MO Bar and Smoke & Mirrors, and it features three of Pernod Ricard’s iconic spirit brands: Absolut Vodka, Beefeater London Dry Gin, and Havana Club Rum.
Details of the launch were revealed at a press event in Singapore on October 4, along with the release of a ‘Circular Making’ video that explains the process and innovation behind closed loop spirits. Pernod Ricard and ecoSPIRITS joined forces to advocate for the circular economy in the industry by creating a circular journey from their countries of origin to the end consumer in ecoSPIRITS’ award-winning closed loop system.
Circular Making: A video collaboration by Pernod Ricard and ecoSPIRITS.
For the Singapore-based pilot program, ecoSPIRITS has released a portfolio of co-branded ecoTOTE™s and SmartPour™s featuring the three iconic Pernod Ricard spirit brands to service bars, restaurants, and hotels across the city state. Venues can securely refill branded spirit bottles using the latest generation SmartPour 2.0S technology. These co-branded SmartPours are equipped with ecoSPIRITS’ patent-pending Verified Sustainable Refill™ feature, which uses NFC-based refill bottle authentication via a cloud-based software platform. The collaboration will eliminate an estimated 95% of all packaging waste and a minimum of 60% carbon emissions of the packaging and distribution for the participating Pernod Ricard brands in Singapore, when compared with the traditional format of single use glass.
Absolut Vodka uses powerful imagery to highlight the partnership.
The partnership between Pernod Ricard and ecoSPIRITS, which was first announced in March 2022, marks the first of its kind for a global brand portfolio and it is a natural fit for both parties. Pernod Ricard is an industry leader in sustainability, having made broad commitments under a Sustainability & Responsibility roadmap that supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The roadmap includes a pillar of ‘Circular Making’, which envisions reducing carbon footprint and encouraging circularity by developing more sustainable packaging solutions. The company aims to reduce its overall carbon footprint intensity by 50% by 2030, and to pursue a Net Zero trajectory by 2050.
To support the Singapore collaboration, leading Singapore distributor Drinks Fellas will join the ecoSPIRITS Climate Partner Program and be the exclusive distributor of Absolut Vodka, Beefeater Gin and Havana Club Rum in ecoTOTE format for the launch period. The company, which is headed up by Jack Ong, joins a growing global coalition of importers, distributors, and wholesalers who are licensed for closed loop distribution using ecoSPIRITS’ technology. Drinks Fellas is the third ecoSPIRITS Climate Partner distributor in Singapore.
“We’re thrilled to start this journey with ecoSPIRITS to create more sustainable and responsible moments of conviviality. It marks a key milestone in our commitment to circular making and distribution, which is at the heart of our 2030 Sustainability & Responsibility roadmap, Good Times from a Good Place. With the highest density of Asia’s Best Bars, and an increasing number of eco-conscious drinkers, Singapore is the perfect location to launch our pilot program. We’re very excited to have the support of Smoke & Mirrors, MO Bar and Republic Bar, three award winning bars in Singapore, and glad that we all share the same vision. Looking ahead, we hope more venues will join us on this circular distribution journey across Asia and the world.”
“Singapore is home to a celebrated bar scene with a growing crop of sustainable bar concepts and eco-conscious consumers. It’s also where the ecoSPIRITS journey started back in 2018. So, for us, there’s no better place than Singapore to launch our pilot program with Pernod Ricard. Through this first-of-a-kind partnership with a global brand portfolio, we hope to inspire more industry leaders and players to make the pivot to circular. We believe that this is an effective lever on our road to a circular economy and a significant step towards a low carbon revolution.”
“Drinks Fellas is excited to be involved in this project with ecoSPIRITS and Pernod Ricard. We have a reputation for responding with agility to an ever-changing market and we have spent many years being at the forefront of shaping and developing Singapore’s spirits sector. We pride ourselves in finding new trends in spirits and we are now at a point where we can fully commit to building sustainability into our plans for the future.”
The Singapore pilot program, which will include a target of 30 bar, hotel and restaurant partners, is forecast to eliminate more than 4,400kg of glass waste and save more than 3,400kg of carbon emissions in the initial six months. In addition, three of Asia’s best bars – MO Bar, Republic Bar Singapore and Smoke & Mirrors – are among the first to join the program and will be serving inventive, sustainably crafted cocktails in celebration of the launch in Singapore.
Journey Cocktail
is made using Beefeater London Dry Gin, Dehydrated Citrus Tea and spices. Journey is inspired by the travels made during the early tea traders in Asia. For this drink, leftover citrus is dehydrated, and turned into a tea by combining it with discarded tea from the bar’s Hi Tea operations to add more flavour. It is then married with Beefeater London Dry Gin and carbonated.
Sunday Spritz Cocktail
is made with Absolut Vodka, Citrus Stock, Lillet Blanc, Chartreuse Jaune, London Essence Peach & Jasmine Soda. Citrus fruits often lead to a lot of waste because they are only used for their peels and juice. As an organic product with high acidity, it is also very difficult and not ideal to compost. To minimize waste and fully utilise them, Republic Bar makes a stock of all-purpose substitute acid, which works wonderfully when mixed in the bar’s Sunday Spritz with Absolut Vodka.
Lacquer-Tini Cocktail
is made from Havana Club 3YO Rum, Jasmine Verte, Acid and Sugar. The drink draws inspiration from the lacquer-style painting of Nguyen Gia Tri’s The Landscape of Vietnam. With botanical and floral notes in a rum-based version of a Daiquiri and Gimlet blend, its clear appearance is not one to be deceived.
This launch in Singapore is an important milestone in a growing collaboration between Pernod Ricard and ecoSPIRITS. In parallel with the rollout in Singapore and one planned for Hong Kong in the coming months, the parties are working together to take the partnership to its next stage, working together on inspiring and encouraging more bars and restaurants to transition to circular packaging across Asia and the world.
Bars, restaurants, and hotels in Singapore interested in participating in the ongoing collaboration between Pernod Ricard and ecoSPIRITS can get in touch via email at info@ecospirits.global or orders@drinksfellas.com. To find out more information about ecoSPIRITS, please contact Sonya Hook, Senior PR Manager, ecoSPIRITS at sonya.hook@ecospirits.global.
About Pernod Ricard
Pernod Ricard is the No.2 worldwide producer of wines and spirits with consolidated sales amounting to €10,701 million in fiscal year FY22. The Group, which owns 17 of the Top 100 Spirits Brands, holds one of the most prestigious and comprehensive portfolios in the industry with over 240 premium brands distributed across more than 160 markets. Pernod Ricard’s portfolio includes Absolut Vodka, Ricard pastis, Ballantine’s, Chivas Regal, Royal Salute, and The Glenlivet Scotch whiskies, Jameson Irish whiskey, Martell cognac, Havana Club rum, Beefeater gin, Malibu liqueur, Mumm and Perrier-Jouët champagnes. The Group’s mission is to unlock the magic of human connections by bringing “Good Times from a Good Place”, in line with its Sustainability and Responsibility roadmap. Pernod Ricard’s decentralised organisation empowers its 19,480 employees to be on-the-ground ambassadors of its purposeful and inclusive culture of conviviality, bringing people together in meaningful, sustainable and responsible ways to create value over the long term. Executing its strategic plan, Transform & Accelerate, Pernod Ricard now relies on its “Conviviality Platform”, a new growth model based on data and artificial intelligence to meet the ever-changing demand of consumers. Pernod Ricard is listed on Euronext (Ticker: RI; ISIN Code: FR0000120693) and is part of the CAC 40 and Eurostoxx 50 indices.
About Drinks Fellas
Drinks Fellas has been plying the discerning liquor connoisseurs of Singapore with the choicest of spirits since the company’s inception in 2003. Not satisfied with the generic offerings so easily obtained in many of Singapore’s retailers and licensed establishments at that time, the team at Drinks Fellas set themselves the challenge of scouring the globe in search of unique spirits. We are justly proud of all the brands that we are privileged to represent and so now, among a list of over 500 products that adorn our shelves you can find the finest Peruvian pisco from BarSol, as well as Italy’s Fabbri 1905. We believe that products such as these represent the very best of what their region has to offer in terms of quality, value for money and of course taste!
About ecoSPIRITS
ecoSPIRITS is a circular economy technology company that has developed the world’s first low carbon, low waste distribution technology for premium spirits and wine. Our patent-pending closed loop system nearly eliminates all packaging waste in the supply chain. By dramatically reducing packaging and transport, ecoSPIRITS provides both a powerful cost advantage and a transformative carbon footprint reduction. Founded in Singapore in 2018, the ecoSPIRITS technology is now available in more than 14 countries and 30 cities across Asia Pacific, Europe and the Americas. More than 1,000 leading bars, restaurants, hotels and retailers have adopted the technology, including Michelin-starred restaurants, World’s 50 Best and Asia’s 50 Best bars and iconic hotels. ecoSPIRITS is now rapidly building a global network of closed loop service, with coverage to grow to 18 countries worldwide by late 2022. Together with our brand partners, importers, distributors, wholesalers, venues, and retailers, we are already making a difference. Each year, ecoSPIRITS and our partners are eliminating hundreds of tons of single use glass waste, planting tens of thousands of trees, and inspiring others to change.