The UK government is investing in its first-ever gin distillery, which will use hydrogen from renewables to produce environmentally friendly gin.

The HySpirits project will explore the feasibility of replacing liquid petroleum gas (LPG) for gin distillation with hydrogen at a craft gin distillery in Orkney, Scotland, to make the distillation process environmentally friendly.

The project will receive funding from the UK government’s £390m investment in hydrogen and low carbon technologies, which will help the industry to reduce emissions and also supports UK’s goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

Of £390m, £40m has been allocated to the Hydrogen and Fuel Switching Innovation Fund, £100m for the competition to supply of low carbon hydrogen and £250m for the Clean Steel Fund to support the iron and steel industry.

The HySpirits project will be receiving funding under the Hydrogen and Fuel Switching Innovation Fund.

As part of this new initiative, the HySpirits project will be working with the European Marine Energy Centre’s facility, which produces green hydrogen using wind and tidal technologies.

The project aims to replace LPG with green hydrogen to heat the gin during the distillation process.

If the project is successful, it could offset nearly 86 tonnes of carbon emissions every year, the equivalence of annual emissions from 10 homes or 18 cars.

UK Climate Change Minister Lord Duncan said: “It’s great to know we can all enjoy an environmentally friendly tipple while helping our planet as we press towards a net-zero emissions economy by 2050.

“Developing hydrogen technology has the potential to not only reduce emissions from industry but could also help us seize the opportunities of the global shift to cleaner economies – with the prize of up 2 million jobs and £170 billion of annual exports by 2030.”

In June, the UK government awarded £26m to fast-track rollout of carbon capture and storage schemes.