Pangolin Gin was created to help save the pangolin from extinction. As a brand that focuses on conservation, it’s not surprising that sustainability also plays a huge part of the business. We spoke to the Founder Chris about sourcing ingredients, bottle packaging and embracing sustainability both on a business and personal level.

What was the inspiration behind Pangolin Gin?

The idea of Pangolin Gin began during a trip I made to South Africa in 2019, where for the first time I learned about the illegal trade and demand for pangolins. Having always had a passion for animals and wildlife, this was a discovery I didn’t feel I could ignore. These amazing animals are sadly one of the most illegally trafficked mammals in the world, however many people don’t even know about them. So, combining my passion for wildlife conservation and love of the spirits industry, Pangolin Gin was born! I wanted to create an extraordinary tasting gin that could help raise the profile of these amazing creatures and shine a light on the threats to their survival.

How would you best describe the taste of your gin and where is it made?

We always wanted the gin to incorporate botanicals from South Africa (where 4 of the Pangolin species originate from – also tying it back to the trip to South Africa which inspired the idea), with these we wanted to include more traditional style gin botanicals too to create an awesome tasting London Dry Gin. With that, we carefully selected and hand-picked botanicals for our product development and 11 botanicals made it into the final recipe for Pangolin Gin, these include: juniper, coriander seeds, orris root, angelica root, cardamom, lemon peel, orange peel, grapefruit peel, baobab, rooibos & honeybush. We’re currently working with Staffordshire Brewery who distill our gin, they use a Digital Genio Still with a Pot & Column to distill the gin.

Why did you choose Flexi-Hex for your bottle packaging?

Having a brand that focuses on and highlights conservation efforts, it’s just as important to us to ensure that we are sustainable throughout all areas of the business. We do not use any plastics in our bottle packaging and we wanted to ensure that we didn’t use plastics (bubble wrap, air seal bags etc.) for our parcel deliveries. Having come across Flexi-Hex® it was soon obvious to us that using your products was the ONLY way we wanted to deliver our parcels to our customers.

How else are you embracing sustainability, both as a business and personally?

As a business we've planted 765 trees to offset our carbon footprint (currently at 37.9 tonnes of CO2) making us climate positive for the last 14 months. All of our botanicals used are ethically sourced and where possible, organic. We recently became Good Market Approved; as part of the application process, we proved that we met the following criteria:

• Prioritise people and planet over short term profit maximisation
• Have a purpose that includes social or environmental goals
• Communicate about how we are good for people and planet
• Have a sustainability strategy that goes beyond a one-time project or event
• Meet minimum sector standards

Personally, I’m currently in the process of purchasing my first electrical vehicle. I have also recently adopted a more plant based diet.

How do you most enjoy a Pangolin G&T?

With a premium tonic water and citrus garnishes, it also makes a lovely Negroni & Martini!

Any other eco-conscious drinks brands on your drinks shelf?

Sapling Spirits (their vodka is amazing, and they plant a tree for every bottle sold!), Fauna Brewing, Arrow Town Drinks, Black Cow, Toast Ale and Dash Water.