By Abbie Stutzer / Source: Ecosalon

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Sustainable liquor is the best option to buy.

It’s the unofficial start of drinking season. (Because when college sports and professional football begin, America seems to go booze crazy – and that trend seems to go strong until January 1st…)

We want to help you stock your liquor cabinet before the main event (aka, Thanksgiving), so we’ve rounded up some sustainable liquor you should consider buying.

Vodka

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American Harvest Vodka

American Harvest’s vodka is filled with organic winter wheat that’s grown on a sustainable farm. The company gets its water from aquifers under the Snake River Plain. This USDA certified organic vodka brand also is dedicated to sustainable agriculture, wind power, and using sustainable and recycled packaging.

Tequila

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4 Copas Tequila

4 Copas Tequila is made of 100 percent organic blue agave. The company uses sustainable plants for a simple reason: because it’s dedicated to improving the well-being of the Earth and its soil. The company produces six different types of tequila.

Bourbon

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Koval Bourbon Whiskey

Koval boasts a “grain-to-bottle mentality” and monitors the entire “spirit-making process.” The company uses local farmers to grow its grain, mills, and mashes on-site, and distills, bottles, and packages its product, too. It can track all of its spirits’ raw materials to the organic farmers it uses. This bourbon is organic and made of 51-percent corn. Be sure to check out the brand’s other sustainable liquors, too.

Whiskey

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Whistle Pig Straight Rye Whiskey

Whistle Pig has operated in an old barn since 2010. It wasn’t until 2013 that the company harvested its first rye crop, but once it did, the company’s rye whiskey was well received. The company is based in Shoreham, Vermont, and its farm, which produces the whiskey’s rye, is sustainably maintained. Whistle Pig’s rye grows densely, which keeps weeds at bay and makes the farm’s need for herbicides quite small. Rye also enjoys soil-based nitrogen, which makes “heavy fertilization unnecessary.” The company currently carries three whiskies.

Brandy

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Catoctin Creek Fruit Brandies

The company makes a pear, peach, and apple brandy. All of the brandies are made with 100 percent local fruits that are sourced from farms and orchards throughout Virginia. The small batches are made in copper pot stills and aged in white-oak casks. In 2013, Creek installed a 41kWh solar array from Prospect Solar, which allows the distillery to offset 85 percent of it electrical usage. All of the company’s products are vegan and organic, too.

Gin

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CapRock Colorado Organic Gin

This gin features a complex blend of 12 different fruits, flowers, spices, and seeds. The “base spirit” of this concoction features certified organic Jonathan apples that are grown at a local farm (Ela Family Farms) and a “certified organic Romanian winter wheat distillate.” This gin benefits from the use of dry botanicals. The company also makes vodka and brandies.

Rum

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Don Q Rum

Don Q Rum boasts a clean finish and a clean production process. The company has an environmentally friendly distillery, which features include a waste reclamation program. The program is dedicated to maximize production capacity while providing “valuable energy return and cost reductions in the form of Biogas, electricity, service water, and industrial products that we can sell to other businesses.” The company carries eight different rums.

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