Martin Murray, Dunnet Bay Co Founder
Murray is chartered process engineer with a passion for gin and beer. He is obsessed with improving all areas of performance, and the mastermind behind all things technical and innovative at Dunnet Bay
Dunnet Bay Distillery
We recently came across a distillery that has an interesting and unique take on encouraging its customers to recycle. Dunnet Bay has created a refill subscription service that will send you one of their liquors of choice every month (or at your convenience) to you in recyclable refill pouches. You then refill your original ceramic “bottle for life” and Dunnet goes so far as to recycle your used pouch for you! Pop it in the post (no stamp required) and it will be sent via free post back to the distillery and the packaging will be broken down or up-cycled!
From sustainably reusing their waste, foraging for or growing their own plants to using solar power, Dunnet Bay are setting wonderfully high eco standards in their industry. They even incentivise their customers to go green with their Refill Rewards Club! Not only are Dunnet Bay great for the environment, their Rock and Rose Gins and Holy Grass Vodkas are top notch!
Can you tell us a little about the founding of Dunnet Bay Distillery? How did it start? What’s the story?
Murray: It goes way back! At university I wanted to do my Masters in brewing and distilling, but there were no jobs back then. I went into the energy sector, but I’ve always been passionate about brewing and distilling and even went back to study it distance learning at university. So it’s always something that’s been at the back of mine and my family’s minds, but the decision really came when we started to look at how we could spend more time together as a family. I had been working offshore in the gas and oil industry for a number of years and we have a young family, so something needed to change. We love our local area and the only way we could move back was to create two jobs, one for me and one for my wife, Claire. Our products are inspired by the botanicals from the local area and the stories that are being lost with time. We want to champion these in our spirits.
Your company is heavily structured around your refill subscription service and recycling process, was this how you initially set up your distillery, or something you moved towards over time?
Murray:We listen to our customers. We love our bottles and viewed them as a bottle for life. That inspired me to think differently and look at how we could refill them and reduce our environmental impact.
The pouches weigh 12.6g empty, which means we are reducing the weight of the bottles being sent to us by about 98%. When shipping them out they are 50% lighter, so we are able to reduce the carbon footprint in the shipping quite significantly
Your company is heavily structured around your refill subscription service and recycling process, was this how you initially set up your distillery, or something you moved towards over time?
Murray:We listen to our customers. We love our bottles and viewed them as a bottle for life. That inspired me to think differently and look at how we could refill them and reduce our environmental impact.
The pouches weigh 12.6g empty, which means we are reducing the weight of the bottles being sent to us by about 98%. When shipping them out they are 50% lighter, so we are able to reduce the carbon footprint in the shipping quite significantly.
What has the response been from your customer base? Have you found that being environmentally conscious has built and contributed to customer loyalty?
Murray:Our fans have loved it. They’ve really embraced the idea and our subscription model “Refill Rewards” has encouraged them to save money by being more environmentally conscious. We continue to monitor return rates and will look at incentives to improve our return rate and possibly further educational videos.
We had never heard of a distillery that allowed customers to post back their products free of charge before coming across yours. It is so convenient, requiring little to no effort from your customers! How can we encourage more brands to adopt this method and how are the pouches recycled once they return to Dunnet Bay?
Murray: We were the first. I had to use my background as a Chemical Engineer to make an argument with the courier that they could be sent freepost without any additional packaging. We wanted to reduce the barriers to consumers to recycling. So we made it freepost with no envelope required. They come back to us and go in a dedicated box to a specialist pouch recycler. We worked with PA Consulting to make sure our loop is robust and that 100% of the product is recycled.
I think by saying that this is our best selling product on our website, might be enough to persuade brands to adopt it!
You describe your refill at home scheme as the first step in your eco development, what do you plan for the future? What is the ‘green innovation’?
Murray: Actually it wasn’t the first step. We’re just not very good at telling people what we do. Our first step was to design an electric still and install a 24kW solar PV system. Then we had our waste analysed and approved to be spread on farmers fields as a benefit to agriculture. Finally, this year we were delighted to appoint Sarah Lyons as our Environmental Manager. She’s reviewing our carbon footprint and looking at ways we can improve our business.
Our future has to be beyond net zero and with a real transparency. We want to lead and we want to be open to criticism that improves our business further. Right now we are monitoring our business waste and looking at projects to get to zero to landfill. In addition, we have longer term projects looking at ways to reduce our cooling requirements and our space heat requirements in the winter.
We are itching to try out all of the different Rock & Rose gins you sell. What is your favourite out of the flavours you’ve created and can you recommend some cocktail pairings that work especially well with your gins?
Murray: I do love our citrus coastal as a martini – the kelp really brings something different to a martini.
Rock Pool Martini – Featuring Rock Rose Gin
- 50ml Rock Rose Gin
- 12.5ml Sacred English Dry Vermouth
- Seasalt
- Rocksalt
- Fennel leaf
- Dried Seaweed
Click here for the method
