“Good evening, I’d like a vodka tonic with ice, a slice, and a whole new world, please.” Getting your drinks with a serving of utopia on the side might sound a bit, well, utopian. But that’s just what Jonas Westphal and Carsten Baade are hoping to do with Abyme, their Berlin-based organic spirit company. Frustrated at seeing only mass-market spirits at their favorite clubs and festivals, the ravers-turned-producers set out to turn cocktails and long drinks into agents of change with their “eco-social” vodka and gin. The 40 percent abv vodka is made from organic wheat and filtered five times through charcoal, giving it a clean taste that works well for cocktails (Cranberry Moscow Mule, anyone?). The climate neutral drink is produced in Heide, Schleswig-Holstein, and 50 cents per litre sold will fund Abyme’s scholarship for sustainability and societal transformation, to be awarded in winter 2022/23. The same goes for the brand’s Rhizom gin, a dry distillate with juniper, citrus zest and ginger that’s perfect for making salty-sour Greyhounds. Like the tonic in a gin and tonic, these spirits are tasty little healers. Cin cin to that.
Text: Benji Haughton / Photos: Edward Howell & Abyme Vodka
You can buy Abyme vodka and gin at shops in Berlin and online.
@abymevodka
