Provenance

Here’s one for Earth Day. Provenance is a word that’s bounded around a lot in hospitality at the moment. Chef’s and restaurants are quick to champion the origins of their produce, proudly listing farms, grocers and carbon-neutral delivery drivers as heroes of the supply chain. Wine has shed it’s kum-ba-yah organic moment for a dirt under-the-nails ‘natural’ movement; eschewing industry for something more wholly pastoral. Even the beer business was buoyed by bearded branding and the craft boom of the aughts and teens.

So, where do spirits stand? A lot of marketing around brands leans on history and craft (olde = good/green, right? Look, it’s made with steam!). Equally bars will big up their sustainable practices through epochal menus and talk you blue about straws and lime husks. But does this stack up to much? A canny ad by large-bat-rum-conglomerate is just that, it doesn’t suddenly make them Captain Planet. Others suffer from supply and demand issues: Campari benefit from basically branding Amari and now can’t possibly follow the original formula and keep up with contemporary lust for bitter, red drinks.

Increased concern for where things come from should drive consumerism for the next generation and beyond. The bar business seems to leaning into but questions should be asked as to where bars and brands tread between gimmick and fact. Where do things come from? How are they made? What are the human rights like at the distillery? What the hell are all these e-numbers and why is there so much sugar and fructose in this product?

Bars, in their role as curators, play a huge part here to sort the wheat from the chaff. It’s not easy to stay on top of everything and brands rolling in with wheelbarrows of cash for menu listings is a green-washing force to be reckoned with. Big alcohol companies are not a million miles from big tobacco - they have a highly addictive product who’s ills are hidden behind a shield of history, pre-eminence and endeavour. There are products out there doing great things - but in their nature small batch products cost more and in an industry with microscopic margins this route is unsustainable for many.

There’s no quick fix here. While we pore over the listings on our back bar, speed rail and the production methods of our ingredients we can never be perfect. Holding a light up to our own industry, business and practices is a conversation that needs to happen now, instead of hiding at the back of the shelf hoping no-one sees it.