Unless you’ve been permanently drunk for the past year – hey, no judgment (just kidding, drink responsibly, kids) – you can’t have failed to notice that there’s a bit of a climate emergency going on.
Whichever direction you want to point the finger it’s hard to deny that the climate is actually changing. Just look at the extensive bushfires in Australia, caused by too little rain, and the heavy rainfall which has recently caused widespread flooding in the UK.
And there’s no denying that our global population is growing at a massive rate. Which means our resources (energy and land for food and beverage production, fresh water etc) have to stretch much further to support us all. The maths speaks for itself.
So, whether you consider yourself a full on compost-toilet-loving eco warrior or not, we’ll all feel the impact of reduced resources and unstable and extreme weather patterns.
Happily, as beer lovers there are things we can do to ‘do our bit’!
In the first part of our new series on sustainability in the brewing and homebrewing industries we’re looking at a few of the ace breweries that are leading the way in eco-friendly brewing practices while still producing the perfect brew.
Purity Brewing Co
Purity Brewing Co have been brewing with a conscience since 2005. So it’s fair to say that they’re well ahead of the curve when it comes to sustainable brewing. In 2015 they won the ‘Insider Made in the UK Sustainable Manufacturer of the Year’ award. The following year they nabbed the title of Midland’s Sustainable Manufacturer.
And they are easily proving that sustainable brewing methods and excellent beer can happily co-exist. The premium quality brews they create are racking up their own awards; Mad Goose pale ale, Longhorn IPA and Pure UBU amber ale are just a few in Purity Brewing’s list of highly acclaimed beers.
‘We brew beer in a modern fashion in a sustainable way’ says Paul Halsey, Founder and CEO. ‘Sustainability is at the heart of what we do.’
And they’re certainly walking the talk. Based on a working farm in Warwickshire, Purity recycle their waste water using a natural wetland system, which ensures that only pure water is fed back into the water system. This has created a biodiverse, thriving ecosystem, helping them rewild their arable farm.
Over the years they have succeeded in reducing their water to beer ratio from around 8 to 1 pints to 2.8 to 1 pints. Almost 50% less than the average brewery usage.
The brewery runs 95% efficient in terms of energy to hot water conversion thanks to the help of the latest heat exchange and steam recapture technology. This tech either returns water vapour from the brewing process back into the brewing process, stores it as heat or uses it for brewery clean-up.
To further reduce their beery footprint Purity Brewing can their beers on site with their own gear, are moving to hybrid plug-in vehicles for their sales fleet and use a minimum of 75% recycled material in their cardboard packaging.
But it doesn’t end there! Spent grain and yeast are used as feed for local livestock, and the used hops make a lovely fertiliser for local farmland.
One to try
Saddle Black (5.8%), their award winning (Bronze at the 2019 International Brewing Awards) unfiltered Black IPA. A ‘gnarly’ black beer with a full smoky and citrus aroma thanks to Pilgrim, Chinook and Cascade hops. Smoked malt brings a well-rounded finish. Saddle Black is full flavoured with notes of chocolate and espresso. Expect a deliciously bitter (IBU 65) kick at the end!
Read more, order brews and book a brewery tour at: puritybrewing.com
Good Things Brewing Co
Winner of last year’s SIBA Brewery Business of the Year Award and Green Business Award, Good Things Brewing Co are indeed brewing up very good things.
Founded in 2017 in East Sussex, they are the UK’s first closed loop, fully sustainable brewery. Not only do they bore their own water, which they share with their neighbours, but they also treat their waste water (of which loads is used in the brewing industry) onsite using reed beds.
They create their own electricity using photovoltaic solar panels, which is used to power the brewery and charge their electric delivery van.
Their spent grain is dried using their specially designed dehydrator and stone ground into flour. The flour – higher in protein and fiber than regular flour – is made into delicious end products by places like pizza restaurants to bakeries.
Plus they package their brews in cans rather than glass bottles, to further reduce their environmental impact.
They’re also up for collaborations and knowledge sharing to make the industry as a whole more sustainable – from suppliers through to distributors.
One to try
Try their Restoring Balance IPA (5.5%) with Citra and El Dorado hops. Think tropical fruit aromas and smooth mouthfeel with a lovely finish.
Read more and discover more of their great brews at www.goodthingsbrewing.co
Lab Culture
Lab Culture’s story starts with a mission to find a more sustainable solution to food production. Vertivore was founded on an industrial estate in Redditch to grow salads and herbs using vertical farming. LED lighting and hydroponics replace the sun and soil, and their nifty vertical racking system produces more yields per square meter than conventional outdoor/polytunnel growing.
This type of growing is well suited to urban environments, which means that the carbon footprint of these crops is reduced since they can be grown pretty much on the doorstep of the restaurants that use them.
But when this idealistic, entrepreneurial team realised how much heat was being wasted by the lighting system they knew they could do better. Inspired by Einstein’s maxim “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them†they had a brain wave: what if they captured the heat generated by the LEDs to brew beer? And so in October 2018 Lab Culture microbrewery was born. Or ‘waste with taste’ as they put it.
