Sustainability
At Ad Gefrin, we are rooted in the past—but our eyes are firmly on the future.
Nestled in the heart of Northumberland, Ad Gefrin is more than a destination. It's a revival of ancient hospitality, a celebration of Anglo-Saxon culture, and a working distillery reviving a tradition that hasn’t been seen in Northumberland for over 200 years. We are proud to bring together heritage and sustainability in everything we do.
Sustainability
At Ad Gefrin, we are rooted in the past—but our eyes are firmly on the future.
Nestled in the heart of Northumberland, Ad Gefrin is more than a destination. It's a revival of ancient hospitality, a celebration of Anglo-Saxon culture, and a working distillery reviving a tradition that hasn’t been seen in Northumberland for over 200 years. We are proud to bring together heritage and sustainability in everything we do.
Sustainability
At Ad Gefrin, we are rooted in the past—but our eyes are firmly on the future.
Nestled in the heart of Northumberland, Ad Gefrin is more than a destination. It's a revival of ancient hospitality, a celebration of Anglo-Saxon culture, and a working distillery reviving a tradition that hasn’t been seen in Northumberland for over 200 years. We are proud to bring together heritage and sustainability in everything we do.
Our Green Story
Honouring the Land
Our story begins with the land. Inspired by the ancient royal court of the 7th century kings and queens of Northumbria, we see ourselves as stewards of this site. From the natural materials used in our building - locally sourced stone, wood, and glass - to our landscaping that restores native wildflowers and pollinator habitats, we are committed to enhancing the environment, not exploiting it.
Crafting with Care
Our whisky distillery operates with environmental mindfulness at its core. Using state-of-the-art energy-efficient distillation techniques, we’ve reduced water consumption and capture heat to recycle throughout the building. We source our barley from local farmers who share our sustainable values, ensuring that every drop of spirit tells a story of place, purity, and partnership.
A Circular Approach
Nothing is wasted at Ad Gefrin. Spent grain from the distillation process is shared with local farmers, ensuring it continues to benefit the community. Glass and packaging materials are 100% recyclable and wherever possible, reusable. We also champion local craftspeople and suppliers, reducing transport emissions and supporting a green economy in the North East.
Energy from the Earth
Ad Gefrin is heated and powered through a combination of renewable electricity sources, with ongoing investment in solar energy and recycled water from our distillery. Our goal is to become carbon neutral - and eventually carbon negative - through green innovation, carbon offsetting, and regenerative land practices.
Connecting Community
Sustainability is also about people, we are invested in building a sustainable future for our community. We empower visitors and locals alike to explore how history, nature, and innovation can thrive side by side.
The Legacy We're Building
At Ad Gefrin, sustainability is not a trend. It’s a tradition. It’s the hospitality of old, reimagined for a new world, where care for the land and care for each other go hand in hand. As we raise a glass to the future, we do so with a deep commitment to preserving the past and protecting the planet.
Sustainability
Sitting at the gateway to Northumberland National Park the team at Ad Gefrin understand how privileged we are to enjoy such a stunning environment and are committed to our responsibility for protecting it in whatever way we can.
Click here for our Carbon report
Here is our A to Z of the things we do in our day-to-day operations to try to be as sustainable as we can be.
AIR
We do not have air-conditioning relying on natural air flow to regulate internal temperatures.
BARRELS
The real flavour of whisky comes from the wood it is stored from, that is why most of our barrels have been used before in spirit making – for Bourbon, sherry or wine – in fact, we will re-scrape, re-char and re-use our barrels several times in the course of our whisky making journey in our distillery.
Even the under-side of our main stairs is made from old whisky barrels.
CLEANING
All of our cleaning materials are eco-products.
DARK SKIES
Northumberland National Park (NNPA) was named as England’s first International Dark Sky Park in 2013, and all of our lighting inside and out of our building, is respectful of this with low light emissions to avoid any light pollution. The 270 globe fibre-optic lights in the Bistro even celebrates the accolade positioned to represent the star constellations visible above on a clear night. All of our lighting has low energy draw controlled by a state-of-the-art system to optimize light levels.
ENERGY
We have a high end building management system that monitors and controls all of our energy usage allowing for real time flexibility to respond to environmental changes. All of our emissions are tightly regulated against European measures.
We have a number of sources of power at our fingertips.
Solar - Our roofs are covered in solar panels with surplus energy recirculated to the Grid.
Heat Recovery System, - All of the heat produced during the distillation process is re-used across the whole the building.
FUTURE-PROOFING
Our Gas Boiler is convertible to hydrogen as soon as the technology becomes viable.
LOCALLY SOURCED
Wherever we can we use locally sourced ingredients. For example, our potatoes come from Particularly Good Potatoes on the edge of Wooler, our cheese comes from Doddington Dairy 2 miles away, and our honey comes from Chainbridge Honey Farm less than 20 miles away.
TRANSPORT
We also offer 6 charging points for Electric Vehicles and 19 cycle racks within our car park.
WASTE
Our Distillery doesn’t produce any chemical waste. The two by-products are (a) draf – the porridge-like waste from the Mash Tun – is gifted to a local farmer; and (b) effluent – from the Wash Still – is removed by another local farmer to be bio-digested and spread as fertilizer.
We also pay a fee to ensure that all of our bin waste is recycled to maximum efficiencies.
As a matter of policy we do not use secondary packaging on any of our products.
WATER
Our water comes from the Cheviot Hills, pumped from the aquifer beneath the building by a borehole. We have a really strict abstraction license, meaning we are only able to draw the level of water that the water-table can provide naturally.
Our water supplies both our domestic and industrial needs; and is recirculated around the building from ‘tap to toilet’.
WHISKY
Most important of all, the barley for our whisky comes from four partner farms within a 10 mile radius and only travels as far as Berwick-upon-Tweed (less than 20 miles away) and back for malting. Our Tácnbora Whisky Blend bottles are made from recycled glass, and we don’t use secondary packaging on any of our products.
WILDING
Our grounds and garden are planted with wild flowers to encourage and support insects, and our grass cuttings are used as mulch. As well as supporting wild bees, we are also about to home our own hive at the back of the site, so that our very own honey will eventually feature in our bistro menus. In the trees above, we have added hand-cast ceramic bat boxes.
ZERO
We aren’t quite there yet in terms of zero emissions – but that is where our heart lies, and we will continue to do our best to achieve what we can, to nudge closer to the ultimate target.
We know it is our responsibility to encourage our suppliers, contractors and visitors to minimise any negative environmental and social effects on the environment. Our Responsible Visitor Charter has suggestions on how this can be done.
