RESEARCH: The Next GRASSROOTS — Digging for Our Roots.
Six months undercover, hunting for a truly circular spirit — and what we dug up while preparing for summer.
Undercover in Mokum | March 2026
GRASSROOTS has spent the past half year quietly digging beneath its own bottle — not for a new flavor, but for proof. Proof that a spirit can be authentic, rebellious, and genuinely circular. With the support of a feasibility grant from the Province of Noord-Holland, under the national MIT innovation scheme, we set out to test just how far "sustainable" can really go before it becomes a compromise. Here's what we found.
Messsage in a bottle.
Of the near-thirty botanicals steeping in every bottle of GRASSROOTS, it turns out one stands out from the underground: ginger.
Our root of choice can go fully organic without breaking the bottle — or the brand. The rest of the herb garden isn't there yet; small volumes and scattered certification make full-batch organic still a bridge too far.
But roots have to start somewhere, and ours starts with ginger. Our aim is to work on our second batch with fully organic Ginger, from 2027 onward.
Boxes, Bottles & Bakfiets
Turns out the real sustainability story wasn't hiding in the glass — it was hiding in the box. Circular bottles and caps proved harder to source at scale than the smugglers made it look, and clear glass matters more to the drinking experience than we expected.
The bigger win was closer to home: our cargo-bike deliveries across Amsterdam already run cleaner and just as fast as any van ever could — proof that the bootleg-by-bike approach isn't just charming, it's the right way to move a spirit through the city. Expect papier over plastic on every crate from here on out.
From city to city. From Old Amsterdam, to —who nows— New Amsterdam. Step by step, pedal by pedal.
Behind the counter
Our underground webshop — the online speakeasy — passed its first real test with flying colors, welcoming dozens of thirsty moonshiners through its (virtual) velvet rope. For now, GRASSROOTS keeps its focus behind the bar, building out its own network of cafés, venues and kindred independent spirits across the city, before opening the front door to direct-to-consumer delivery.
Staying true to the roots
"This study confirmed something we already believed in our gut: you don't get to circular by cutting corners, you get there step by step, ingredient by ingredient, block by block," says founder Paul de Kuyper. "Ginger first. Then the box. Then the bike. That's how a real movement grows — from the grassroots up."
The next chapter is already being distilled: a futureproof, little surprise, distilled specially for festivals and future cities beyond Amsterdam — always rooted in the same underground values of craft, culture and circularity.
STAY TUNED!!!
