The new eco-friendly line, which is turning wastes into wants, debuted in Singapore earlier this month with three award-winning spirits: Discarded Sweet Cascara Vermouth, Discarded Banana Peel Rum, and Discarded Grape Skin Vodka. An estimated 1.6 billion tonnes of food waste was generated last year, so if some of it is kept from landfills and made into quality drinks, I say ‘cheers’ to that!

In celebration of the launch, there’s an exclusive, limited-time (extra limited now, for reasons we’ll get into later) six-hands menu to be had at sustainable bar Analogue Initiative. Creative, eco-forward cocktails by Analogue and cool experimental bar Byrdi (Melbourne) are paired seamlessly (really, harmoniously complemented) with delicious plates from zero-waste restaurant SEM (Lisbon).  

The Vermouth is used in the delish Ugly Tomatoes (an ode to the Jigger OG, says Byrdi’s Samuel Thornhill). Flavoured with cascara (the husk of coffee cherries), which is an oft-wasted by-product of the coffee industry, it’s an easy, endlessly sippable cocktail (below).

Ugly Tomatoes

The Vodka, distilled from the pomace of Spanish Chardonnay grapes, a by-product of wine-making, is possibly my bottle of choice. It gives the drink Husk — Victorian white port and Wattyl wine (made from Australia’s national flower) — a smooth, luscious mouthfeel. 

Oh right, we’d just heard that Analogue is leaving Chijmes by 15 Sep 2024, which means there’s only a couple of weeks left to discover this menu. And it’s really worth popping down for, because how often do you have these cocktail and culinary maestros in the same room? Discarded Spirits is a properly commendable effort by a Big Booze company. The releases, which incidentally also feature 100% recyclable packaging (and at least 65% recycled glass), aren’t only well-made but actually taste good. Hopefully, it’ll also ignite more dialogue about mindful consumption, our definition of waste, and the creative solutions that exist.

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