Root Shoot Spirits has also partnered with Johnson Brothers Maverick Beverage Company to step up from being self-distributed along the Front Range to being available across all of Colorado. Maverick will carry the brand’s award-winning single malt whiskey as well as its newer release, a high-rye straight malt whiskey.
As part of joining Zero Foodprint, Root Shoot Spirits is dedicating one percent of its spirits sales to helping the nonprofit provide grants for farmers and ranchers in California, Colorado, Washington and Oregon to implement practices that will help build soil health and sequester carbon through the use of regenerative agriculture and climate smart practices. Dry Land Distillers in Longmont is also a member, as are some other local companies.
Root Shoot Spirits is an offshoot of the partnership between Olander Farms and Root Shoot Malting, which creates whiskies out of the grain that comes from the fifth-generation farm and malthouse outside of Berthoud. The farm already has a relationship with Zero Foodprint, having received a grant in 2022 for compost application on its annual barley, wheat, rye and corn crops, as well as another in 2024 to help with nutrient management, crop rotation and reduced tillage on the entire farm.
“We’ve worked with Zero Foodprint for years, and we’re thrilled to officially join forces with an organization that champions local supply chains and real change in agriculture,” says farmer and Root Shoot co-founder Todd Olander. “Our farm uses regenerative practices to grow the grain behind our award-winning whiskey — and that whiskey, in turn, helps fund the next generation of farmers. It’s a full-circle mission we’re proud to be part of.”
Since its launch in 2020, Zero Foodprint has funded projects that it estimates have resulted in a net reduction of more than 200,000 tons of CO2-equivalent. (Other types of emissions with higher or lower carbon impacts than CO2, such as the more carbon-intensive gas methane, are included in that number and adjusted to provide apples-to-apples data.) These efforts earned Zero Foodprint the James Beard Foundation's Humanitarian of the Year award in 2020.
Olander Farms has worked with Zero Foodprint in the past, receiving two rounds of grant funding for its northern Colorado operation.
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“This isn't just a business model. It's a way of life that honors our land, our heritage,” she says. “I think what's really important to us is that, by contributing one percent of our sales, we're helping support other farmers who want to care for their land the way that we do. The future of farming depends on the choices we make today, and we're choosing to invest in it.”
Additionally, Root Shoot Spirits will take part in Zero Foodprint’s upcoming Dirty Drinks campaign that runs from August 25 through September 1, during which participating outlets will donate $1 from each special Dirty Drink sale to Zero Foodprint. Because Root Shoot doesn't have its own space where it can serve drinks, it's working with some of its bar and restaurant partners to feature cocktails made with Root Shoot whiskey for the fundraiser. Denver restaurants already signed on for the campaign include Rioja, Tavernetta and Jax Fish House.
“We're trying to partner with the folks who are either Root Shoot Malting customers, like brewpubs, or really anybody that can serve a cocktail," says Emily Olander, "trying to get some of those folks on board so then we can spread the word a little bit more, we can get the consumers into those establishments."
