Alkemy Distillery, based in Bradfield St George, near Bury St Edmunds, wins Most Sustainable Distilled Spirit Award 2025

A distillery, which produces a unique spirit drink, has won a prestigious award for sustainability.

Alkemy Distillery, based in Bradfield St George, near Bury St Edmunds, has been recognised for the environmental impact of its Sugar Beet Rum in the annual Luxuri Awards winning the title of ‘Most Sustainable Distilled Spirit 2025.

The Luxuri Awards consider factors such as innovation, customer experience, brand reputation, sustainability and global impact shown by nominees.

The rigorous merit-based approach ensures that winners are chosen based on objective evaluations of their contributions rather than relying on popularity or votes.

This award is the third time that Alkemy Distillery has been recognised for its positive impact on the environment, in 2024 Alkemy won the Excellence Award for Sustainable Distilling award at the Distillery and Brewing Awards 2024, along with the Sustainability Hero award at last year’s Velvet Food and Drinks Awards.

Alkemy is made in the same way as rum, but with one key difference.

Instead of using sugar cane molasses, it uses sugar beet molasses. A similar end product is achieved, although the nuances of flavour differ from conventional rum, creating a unique-tasting, aged spirit.

Alkemy director, Will Tapster, who runs the company with brother, Rob, said: “Within the UK market, both importing and producing rum have a significant impact on the environment. This is due to the contrasting environments of the market in the UK and where sugar cane is grown, in tropical climates.

“At some point in the production of any rum, either the rum, molasses, cane juice or raw cane will have to be shipped over very long distances.

“However, on average, it takes 35 miles for Alkemy to travel from field to bottle, which is a significant difference to the average of 5,500 miles that it takes for traditional rum to be transported from its source.

“Our approach to the temperature of the planet rising is simple. If you don’t cause the problem in the first place, you don’t have to try and fix it or make restitutions for it.

“By making a dark spirit from sugar beet molasses instead of sugar cane, we have made our first and biggest step towards a truly sustainable product.

“Not only in the shipping CO2 emissions but the farming process for sugar beet compared to sugar cane, which has far less impact on the planet.

“We aren’t perfect yet, but we are getting up and running and this gives us more ability to change and make the right decisions as we grow.

“We believe that innovation is the key to addressing the climate issue, and this is a big part of what makes Alkemy the spirit that it is.”

Alkemy is the first distillery to use sugar beet in place of sugar cane to produce ‘rum’, and with that comes additional responsibility.

Will added: “As much as we would love other people to make the switch to using sugar beet, we fully understand why this has not happened to date.

“As the base materials differ, so does the end product. We have created Alkemy with the end product in mind at all times, and as a result, we have found that it is an approachable and easy to drink spirit.

“As the first of its kind, we are aware that Alkemy has the responsibility to showcase the benefits of using sugar beet beyond the environmental benefits, and we believe that we have accomplished this so far, but this is just the start for us.”

Alkemy Sugar beet spirit became the first UK-grown rum to be awarded a gold medal at the Rum and Cachaça Masters 2024, and in 2023 their sugar beet spirit achieved an impressive score of 93/100 at the international wine and spirits competition, making it the highest-scoring rum in England.

The distillery also won New Rum Distillery of the Year at the Global Awards 2023/2024 and won a Silver medal at the 7th London Spirits Competition, considered a huge seal of approval in the global spirits industry.

Will said: “This has come an exciting time for the distillery as we’re just about to launch our flagship product, so it’s great to get the recognition for the positive impact that the product can have on the environment at this time.

“ Last month we presented at the ‘Eco Drinks 2025’ conference alongside bigger brands like Tropicana and Pernod Ricard, so it’s a good start to the year for the sustainability of our products and getting our message out there.”