California Distillery Plants 500,000th Tree as Part of ‘Buy a Bottle, We’ll Plant a Tree’ Pledge

(Photo: Redwood Empire Whiskey)

California distillery Redwood Empire Whiskey announced this week that it has reached a major milestone in its “Buy a Bottle, We’ll Plant a Tree” commitment. The distillery, which is owned by Purple Brands, has now planted 500,000 new trees since 2019.

“Since we launched our partnership with Trees for the Future in 2019, we never thought we’d plant so many trees in such a short time span,” Derek Benham, founder and managing partner of Purple Brands, said in a news release. “We’ll continue to grow our efforts alongside the rapid growth of our craft whiskeys.”

The 500,000-tree milestone translates to restoring 125 acres of degraded farmland, more than 18,000 metric tons of CO2 sequestered (over 20 years) and helping over 1,000 people who were heading towards hunger and poverty, the brand said in the news release. Trees for the Future has been responsible for planting more than 225 million trees in the past three decades and is on track to plant 1 billion trees by 2030.

Founded in 2015, Redwood Empire Whiskey is a craft whiskey distillery whose name was inspired by California’s famous redwood trees. Due to its ties to the forests, this effort was a natural fit for the distillery.

Redwood Empire’s core whiskey profile comprises Lost Monarch, a blended whiskey; Pipe Dream, a bourbon; and Emerald Giant, a rye whiskey. It also recently released two bottled-in-bond expressions, Rocket Top Rye and Grizzly Beast Bourbon.

Purple Brands also partnered with environmental charity One Tree Planted to coordinate volunteer planting days during Earth Month with the company’s team and partners.

Trees are a vital piece of the whiskey industry, as they provide the wood used to craft barrels that house aging liquids. For that reason, many distilleries and spirits companies work to protect forests and plant trees. Bulleit in April announced that it has planted or protected 1 million trees. Heaven Hill and Pernod Ricard also have focused on protecting nature and planting trees in recent years.

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