OUR GREEN PHILOSOPHY

It is easy to say you have a green philosophy as a corporation.  What is hard is living it every day.  

We could more easily make a list of what we know we are NOT doing to take sufficient care of the planet.  

• We ship our rum to many states in the US and even across the sea.  
• We use natural gas to fire our open flame stills.
• We bring our sugar cane from Hawaii because it is not grown closer to us.

But that said, we are doing some cool things to be a little more conscious of our impact on the planet and its people. These efforts do distinguish us from other distillers in the USA and around the world.  

• We capture the heat from our stills to heat our 5,800 square feet of space, including our Tasting Room.  In most rum distilleries, this heat is released outdoors.
• We recycle and reuse the bottles from our Tasting Room.
• We do not need to chill our fermentations because Colorado ambient indoor temperatures of 50-68 degrees are perfect to control our fermentations.
• We recycle the hot water from our condensers to start our fertmentations rather than heating the water from the tap.  
• We use water from a rich and plentiful source. 
• We avoid plastic in our packaging.  
• We use only compostable corn cups for our special events.
• We use compostable straws and high recycled-content cocktail napkins in the Tasting Rooms. 
• We minimize our printed materials compared to most liquor companies.
• We are committed to adaptive reuse of historic buildings.  Our Elk Avenue distillery in Crested Butte is located in the old hydro Powerhouse, a landmark building that has struggled for the last 10 years to house a vital business.  It makes a perfect distillery.
• We don't need to heat our facilities at night because we like to fluctuate the temperatures with nature as a catalyst to the aging process.  The more the temperature fluctuates, the faster our rum ages and the more flavorful it becomes.
• We only sell organic US cotton logowear at Montanya.
• We share our commercial kitchen with an Organic Baking company (Mountain Oven) because we don't need it all the time and we'd rather share than have it be underutilized.  This cooperative arrangement provides fresh baked breads for our appetizers and more heat for our Tasting Room.
• Montanya rums will always be made on-shore in the USA.  We do not intend to outsource any part of the process or any jobs overseas, even as we grow.  
• We participate financially in the Crested Butte Land Trust, support of open space preservation, and dedication of wilderness areas in western Colorado.
• We are very philanthropically involved with non-profit organizations in our communities through in-kind and cash donations.
• All of our facilities are handicapped-accessible.

We know we could always be doing more. But for now, it isn't all bad.