CARBONDALE, COLO.—Marble Distilling Co. & The Distillery Inn was named as a 2017 Green Hotelier Award Winner and the only North American property to be recognized. A sustainable luxury inn, distillery & tasting room nestled at the base of the Elk Mountains of Colorado in the Carbondale Creative District, Marble Distilling Co. & The Distillery Inn was Highly Commended for 2017 in the Americas. “We really loved your ethos and commitment to sustainability and community and you were a very close second to our winner,” said Siobhan O’Neill, Editor of Green Hotelier.
The Green Hotelier awards received a record number of applicants from around the world this year and properties were judged on their efforts to reduce energy and water consumption, their waste output, their roles as responsible businesses to their employees and in the local community, as well as looking at how they communicate their sustainable and responsible ethos to guests.
The Green Hotelier Award comes on the heels of both an article by Sierra Club about socially conscious spirit entrepreneurs and a Master’s Medal in Green Initiatives, the highest award allotted, from The Global Spirits Masters series. Produced by U.K.-based The Spirits Business, which has long celebrated the international spirits industry, they created the Global Distillery Masters to celebrate the achievements and innovations of the distilleries themselves, beyond their spirits. “This is an example of what you should be doing,” said Judge David T. Smith, Founder of the Craft Distilling Expo. Smith went on to say, “they (Marble Distilling Co.) have the additional challenge of having a hotel as well. I think it’s great that they are zero-waste.” Judge Nicholas Clark Director General of The Gin Guild remarked that “The figures for water savings are astonishing.”
“We are honored to receive these prestigious awards, and that people are beginning to realize that you can embrace sustainable business practices and systems to create unique offerings,” said Co-Founder & Head Distiller Connie Baker. “Not only do we distill first-rate spirits and provide guests with a unique luxury travel experience, we are saving 4.1 million gallons of water annually and recapturing enough energy annually to power 20 homes.”
Marble Distilling Co. is a pioneer of sustainable distilling and is one of the only (if not the only) zero-waste distillery in the world. The motto “Drink Sustainably” is the core of its business. MDC recaptures 100 percent of its process water and reuses energy harvested from the distillation process to heat its facility, saving more than 4 million gallons of water annually and capturing for reuse, enough energy to heat 20 homes. All grains are sourced locally and all stillage from MDC’s distillery is sent to local Carbondale ranchers.
