Matt a farmer, Sam a stonemason, Phill a sustainability entrepreneur and Andy a Graphic Designer sat round a table enjoying a few drinks and chatting. We quickly established that Matt has an abundance of waste potatoes and there had to be something we could use them for.
How could we give them value ?… the lightbulb moment, can we make gin out of them ?… the research began and we contacted our distiller and now partner Tony to see if it was possible.
We would sort a tonne of waste potatoes that due to size and shape don’t make the grade for their intended purpose, and send them to Tony for the experiment to begin. No frills or messing about just a gentle wash and then cutting into chips was all that was required. Matt and Sam quickly set about sorting this for Tony on a cold March evening in one of the barns on the farm. Once processed the potatoes were transported to Tony in a recycled IBC.
Lessons were quickly learned and Tony issued revised instructions to Matt and Sam. The chips were to large and took too long to cook and break down. We would need to increase the surface area for the cooking process to be more effective. Matt and Sam put their thinking caps on and decided that the potatoes would need to be rumbled to remove the skins and then minced.
With an old second-hand rumbler salvaged from a chip shop and used mincer purchased we set about producing batch 2. Utilising stainless steel tanks already on the farm and some good old agricultural ingenuity a cooking set up was built in a barn on the farm. Matt and Sam would cook the potatoes and introduce the enzymes to turn the starch from the potatoes into sugars. The cooked sweet liquor would then be transported to Tony in IBC’s for the yeast to be pitched and fermentation. This process worked well and with minimal investment and a good amount of determination and hard work our first spirit was produced. We were making gin from rejected potatoes
Without any prior experience or knowledge we had made a beautifully clean and crisp tasting gin from potatoes that were heading for landfill. Tony was quickly brought on board as our expert distiller and we began processing potatoes to produce a truly traceable and sustainable gin.
As we were now producing gin, we would need a sustainable bottle and label to put it in. This is when our fifth team member and shareholder Andy came on board bringing his marketing and digital expertise to the table. Our label and brand was quickly produced and we now have a beautiful bottle and eye catching label to promote our great gin made entirely from potatoes destined for landfill.
Meet The Team
Matt
Founder & Farming and Logistics Director
Sam
Founder & Production Director
Phill
Founder & Circular Operations Director
Andy
Founder & Design Lead
Tony & Sarah
Distiller Extraordinaires!
Meg
Events Manager & Social Media Guru
Our gin is made from unwanted potatoes grown here at Balne Hall Farm farmed by Matt & Meg Wood and their family.
Situated in North Yorkshire, each year around 80 hectares of potatoes are grown on the farm, with the majority of the crop going into the food chain for our customers to enjoy as chips.
Read moreWe take unloved potatoes that are wonky or too small to be sold and we give them some TLC by transforming them into our amazing premium small batch gin.
We separate them from the high quality potatoes, peel them and squeeze 10 unloved potatoes in every bottle of Conscious that normally would have gone to waste.
Read moreEverything we do is underpinned by the Circular Economy, the business as usual, linear, take, make, use, dispose economy is no longer fit for purpose.
Not only do we use surplus potatoes that would normally be destined for the waste pile, we also use clean energy from our on farm CHP power plant & have committed to using no single use plastics in our supply chain.
Read moreYou can buy us from the following amazing stockists
Keep me in the loop
Sign up to our newsletter
Here at Conscious Co. we don’t just talk conscious, we live it. We believe that delicious Gin shouldn’t cost the earth, we are ushering a new era of fully sustainable spirit production.
Every aspect of our products and business model is meticulously thought through putting our customers, our planet and society first.
At Conscious Co. we live and breathe conscious business and collaboration. Every aspect of our operation is meticulously thought out with the planet in mind. We place collaboration over competition and seek to work with stakeholders to deliver mutually beneficial outcomes.
We are revolutionising how businesses utilise the assets around them. All of our products are produced from ingredients traditionally seen as worthless and normally destined for landfill. We use fresh, delicious, surplus food (think wonky veg, surplus and unsold fruits) to create tasty, premium and sustainable products.
Embedding the Circular Economy in our business.
Zero plastic, zero waste, zero compromise on quality & taste.
Join us!