FAIR. Vodka

Spirits enter the Fair Trade arena

Started in 2008, and only launched in England in 2009, the UK’s only fair trade vodka may not have been around for very long, but it’s already been making ripples in the premium vodka pool.

Fair trade produce is nothing new to the UK market – many a high-street store has been championing the cause for a good while now. Today there is a good range of fair trade products available, mostly food stuffs, but more recently premium and even luxury items have been emblazoned with the fair trade stamp, the most recent one to make headlines being gold earlier this year.

But when you’re buying a premium product, are you really going to go out of your way to find the most ethically produced/sourced option; when spending over a certain price point consumers are looking for quality above all.

So the question is how do you change people’s perception, and sex-up the image of fair trade products?

Paul Bungener from FAIR. gave it a pretty good stab by affiliating fair trade with something intrinsically fun and sophisticated i.e. premium vodka, and from the overall reaction to it, pretty successfully, too.

Bungener, with origins in the fashion world, knows a thing of two about creating sex appeal and a desirable image. He also knows that a pretty idea alone won’t sell.

FAIR.’s first year in the UK was tough – launching in the middle of a recession and trying to persuade people to trade up for to help people on the other side of the world doesn’t exactly lend itself well to a meteoric ascent.

Instead of preaching to people about how it was their duty to help those less fortunate, FAIR’s approach rather was demonstrate the quality of the product first, and then once established to push the ethical benefits.

The quality is ensured by the high quality quinoa used and also the spirits know-how from the lab-side of the team; Jean-François Daniel and Alex Koiranski, both of whom

have years of experience behind them. The vodka itself has a lovely soft texture and is more like a rye vodka than anything else, but has enough body and weight to hold up in cocktails, with a cognac-style finish.

“It’s a quality product, it’s unusual [the only vodka made from quinoa] and there’s an ethical perk”, sums up Bungener. If pushed in that order, trade and consumers alike will react positively, is his belief. And judging from the level of adoption in high-end bars and also in major retailers, he’s on to something.

FAIR. also set the tone of the product from the very beginning; a launch party in the Mandarin Oriental in Knightsbridge with a host of high-profile cocktail experts, hip tunes and a selection of beautiful people is not exactly the long-haired, bespeckled tea and cake get-together that all too often is associated with ethically viable product launches.

A textbook example of how to link a slightly uncool but worthy concept in with an achingly cool product without in the least detracting from either, FAIR. is certainly one to watch.

FAIR. Vodka is the only one made from quinoa, also the first vodka in the UKto offer 35cl packaging. Available in a selection if bars (check out their website for more information), it is also in the off-trade in Selfridges and Wholefoods at the moment with plans to expand.

FAIR. Also produces two liqueurs; coffee and goji berry, both also ethically produced. The company has plans to continue expanding, the most immediate new release to be a quinoa beer.