Have you ever pondered how sustainable your favorite beer is? No, I hadn鈥檛 either 鈥� until I started brewing. In truth 鈥� and it pains me to say it 鈥� the act of transforming barley into fermented beer carries an environmental footprint of pretty epic proportions.
To put it into perspective: average energy consumption is estimated to be about 0.2 kilowatt hours for each bottle of beer, enough energy to run a 40-inch TV for almost three-and-a-half hours. As for water, although it鈥檚 hard to quantify exactly how much is used to create beer 鈥� from the growing of hops and barley to the cleaning of brewing equipment 鈥� recent studies suggest it can take up to 300 litres of water to create just one litre of beer. Worse still, the majority of ingredients used to make beer are never actually consumed, with most leftover hops and malt earmarked for landfill.
Craft beer fans with an eco-conscience may want to avert their eyes now because the high alcohol, hoppy beers associated with this scene can sometimes be even worse for the environment. Why? High aroma is generally achieved through a process known as dry hopping, meaning the addition of hops post-boil. On a commercial scale, this often requires an energy-rich process of re-circulation, plus the movement of beer between tanks, ultimately requiring the use of electricity for pumps and water for cleaning. What鈥檚 more, hoppy, high-percentage beers generally demand more ingredients. It is not uncommon for some craft brewers to use twice as much malt as an industrial brewer and 25 times more hops. In Scotland alone, annual beer-related by-product waste is estimated to total 53,682 tonnes.
The good news is that – thanks to their diminutive size 鈥� so-called craft brewers are far more likely to leave a smaller environmental footprint than their mega-brewery counterparts. However, all this could change as the latter begin to mimic craft beer鈥檚 ingredient-heavy styles. But do we really have to make a choice between good quality, flavorsome beer and sound environmental credentials? Perhaps not.
The Leeds-based Northern Monk Brew Co has just released what could be the world鈥檚 first zero-waste beer 鈥� and it tastes incredible. The beer, Wasted, is a 6.7% golden farmhouse ale made in collaboration with the Real Junk Food Project, a charitable foundation that runs a series of 鈥減ay as you feel鈥� cafes serving waste food sourced from supermarkets, allotments, restaurants and food photographers.
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