Ramsgate-based Gadds’ Brewery and brewers at Toast Ale have joined forces to collaborate on a special-edition beer to mark Earth Day.
Earth Day Pale Ale is a modern cask beer with notes of passionfruit, peach, grapefruit, and tropical fruits that showcases innovative action for the planet.
The theme for this year’s Earth Day, on 22nd April, is investing in our planet. Gadds’ already has a solar array to power chillers, and an air source heat pump for space heating at the brewery. The innovative small brewery recently trialled new technology for small-scale carbon capture.
Carbon captured by the growing barley is released as CO2 during fermentation. It’s usually vented to the atmosphere by all but the biggest breweries, whilst CO2 produced from fossil fuel sources has to be purchased for carbonation and filling.
The cost of CO2 has increased significantly over the past couple of years, and supply has been intermittent. So capturing CO2 to reuse is a win-win for the planet and for the brewer.
Toast’s signature approach to reducing environmental impact is to use surplus bakery bread. This avoids emissions from what would otherwise be wasted food and reduces the need for malted barley, which has a large footprint. Dried, crumbed bread replaced 5% of the malt.
Other innovative ingredients were used for the beer. Raw barley, which doesn’t require the water and energy used for malting, replaced 5% of the malt. For the remaining malt, which is needed for the enzymes to break down the sugars for fermentation, the brewers used super pale malt. This requires less time in the ovens than darker malts so uses less energy.
Earth Day IPA brew day
East Kent Golding hops, grown just down the road from Gadds’, were used with other UK hops to create the modern ale. Big, punchy flavours are often from hops grown in the USA, New Zealand, or Australia. However, the UK hop industry, known for its exquisitely balanced, classically understated hops, is breeding exciting new varieties full of intensity.
Other techniques used to minimise the environmental footprint of the beer included high gravity brewing and the use of enzymes for cleaning instead of caustic chemicals. The final beer is also vegan-friendly.
“We’re not claiming this beer will save the planet, but we hope it opens discussions about how we can all help make a difference,” said Eddie Gadd, head brewer and owner of Gadds’.
“Ours is the most ancient of industries, steeped in history and carried out using artisanal methods bestowed on us by previous generations. But that doesn’t mean we can’t change and adapt, whilst retaining the fundamental way we make beer and the consequent fabulous pint.”
Toast brewer, Stuart Robson, added: “Collaborating with Gadds’ has been a great opportunity for us all to trial new ideas and learn from each other, ultimately resulting in a great tasting beer that has a lower environmental footprint. We’re looking forward to sharing learnings widely, and inspiring and supporting more breweries to invest in our
planet.”
All Earth Day IPA will be sold in casks at the Gadds’ brewery taproom and various pubs in East Kent from 16th April. It will also be pouring at Toast’s taproom, Good Company, on 26th April for Stop Food Waste Day.
