Diageo trials spirit bottle refill station in Ireland

Diageo is trialling a keg system for refiling spirit bottles in Ireland called Everpour.

The system was created in-house by Diageo – in partnership with Hodges & Drake Design – to be a bottle refill system for the on-trade.

Everpour is a keg for spirits that allows bars to refill empty spirit bottles. Two keg variants exist for the system, a 17.5 litre and 5 litre. Once empty, Diageo will collect the keg, clean it and refill before returning it to the on-premise site.

The trial of the integrated keg and bottle dispenser is taking place in bars in Dublin on bottles of Smirnoff vodka.

Diageo has claimed the Everpour system could reduce the carbon emissions of every litre of Smirnoff by 50%.

The larger keg is “anticipated” and claimed by the spirits giant to reduce the use of 500 single-use 70cl bottles in its lifespan. A pallet configuration used in traditional transport roughly holds 56 cases or 504 70cl bottles.

“This a huge milestone for Diageo to be trialling our first bespoke Diageo-led developed circular economy system for spirits in the on-trade,” Diageo global sustainability innovation director Dave Lutkenhaus said.

“We’ve designed the system building on the years of insights we have from the on-trade with the aim for Everpour to be convenient and desirable for bartenders to use, whilst reducing our carbon emissions. We’re looking forward to seeing the results from the trial to take into our next round of product development.”

Last year, Diageo said it was working with circular packaging company EcoSpirits on the roll-out of the Ecotote systems in 2024 and would conduct an analysis of the pilot’s results in three years to judge the “sustainability benefits” of the system.

EcoSpirits’ main system is called Ecotote, a re-useable glass container that holds 4.5 litres of liquid, held inside a branded outer shell. It aims to reduce packaging waste by providing on-premise locations with branded refillable containers.

Just Drinks