In a New Zealand First, Dancing Sands is the first distillery to move their bottle production to NZ on a commercial scale. Each new bottle of Dancing Sands is now made here in Aotearoa from recycled glass and the labels are printed on recycled paper and use non-toxic soy based inks. Sustainability never tasted so good!
Founders Sarah and Ben Bonoma were motivated to reduce their carbon emissions when Dancing Sands started exporting to the UK. The fact that they were importing bottles from Europe, filling them in Golden Bay and then sending them right back to where they came from did not sit well with them and led to Sarah contacting NZ’s only glass bottle manufacturer. This began an 18 month process to design and produce a custom glass bottle. It hasn’t always been an easy path to take, says Sarah: “We knew that moving bottle production to New Zealand, and using recycled glass was the right thing to do, but it has been a long road to bring our goal to fruition with many hurdles along the way. To be honest, it would have been easier to go offshore for bottle production but we knew that we had to stay the course and make it happen.” The hard graft is all worth it with the knowledge that they’re eliminating 15 000 KG of carbon emissions every year from their production cycle - the energy equivalent of charging your phone 1.8 million times.
Dancing Sands’ owes its continued success to the natural surroundings of Golden Bay. Founders Sarah and Ben Bonoma knew Golden Bay was a bit of a tricky location when they established the distillery in 2016, but that its remoteness is what gives way for pristine natural beauty that continually provides inspiration for their innovative flavours. With that in mind, the brand is leading the way with cleaner, greener raw materials and manufacturing processes, helping to keep New Zealand’s treasured, natural spaces as pristine as possible for future generations of Kiwis to enjoy and draw inspiration from.
So go on then, make your next summer’s afternoon G&T with one of Dancing Sands Gins. Each sip will transport yourself to a place where the sea sparkles aqua marine and the sand shines almost as much as Beyonce’s Grammy collection. Feel good in the knowledge that your choice to drink a sustainably made Gin is contributing to a smaller carbon footprint and you’re doing your part to protect these pockets of paradise for generations to come.
