As the world achieves new heights in various spaces and arenas, the world’s leading bars make sure to create premium trends and serve for the world to engage in. Experiences evolve not only with technology but also around hospitality – in the alcohol-beverage industry. Technology has made innovation and eco-serves blend in to produce premium products that are also sustainably made to reduce pollution and waste simultaneously.
Singapore stands out as an example with bars that use the natural process of fermentation to create a second life for leftover food. The iconic bar, Native emphasises on the concept of circularity where waste is either converted to be used again fruitfully or composts are used to create its own food. Its exceptional use of the leftover pineapple skin from the cocktail is carefully mixed with koji to undergo fermentation for a month and then later create ‘Pineapple Shoyu’. Another Bangkok based bar – Wasteland, uses leftover ingredients from the restaurant Bo.lan to create cocktail garnishes.
The collaboration trend isn’t merely a trend within the Instagram community ; it’s a real life phenomenon. Restaurants and bars collaborate to make efficient ecosystems and support ethical-living. As a gesture to support local and small businesses, there is a growing trend around the community to create something from leftovers or waste. ‘Zero Waste’ policy is growing in the minds of young entrepreneurs and change-makers. For instance, Re, an Australian bar is known to be the first zero-waste bar wherein it collects food waste from eight distinct bars and suppliers and seeks to repurpose those into cocktail ingredients and elements. Its new cocktail menu launched in April, 2023 featured ten serves that are made by the ten most-wasted food items. Their ultimate goal is to make the hospitality network strong in terms of re-using and transformation of waste produced by all restaurants and bars.
In various locations, the bars are taking proactive measures to source alternate ingredients locally and from businesses around. Oslo-based bar called – Himkok produces 80% of its spirits and is self-sufficient. The bar aims to attract eyes by depicting true Norwegian culture through it’s locally-made drinks. Procedures including distillation, brewing and fermentation, all are executed independently through renewable hydro-generated energy, botanicals and local ingredients. The Hong Kong based bar, Penicillin focuses on minimising the carbon footprint of the bar and also carries out its own research. Additionally, it estimates that all cocktails on its menu save an average of 150g of CO2 emissions, compared to conventionally produced serves.
Many bars hope to align their values with their suppliers and be a symbol of sustainable hospitality and practices for others. 2023 has turned out to be a significant year in terms of transforming conventional ways to better and eco-friendly ones. There has been deeper research and development in terms of evolving, not just on the cover but from the core. The new year promises to unveil numerous examples that are reshaping the market’s dynamics.
