A new whey to brew beer – and fight food waste

Beer lovers with an eye for protein, cheese and food waste – and we know there’s lot of you out there – are in for a treat this month as a brew made with whey left over from Stilton gets poured.

Blue Brew, born out of a partnership between Arla and Belvoir Brewery, is made with the watery by-product of Stilton blue cheese made at the dairy giant’s Tuxford & Tebbutt creamery, situated just down the road from the Old Dalby-based brewery.

The partnership has seen Arla provide 1,000 litres of free whey to the brewer, which it has used to produce roughly 1,500 bottles of Blue Brew, helping prevent food waste on the way.

It’s a nice twist in the war on food waste, but also a brew that brings something “completely different” to the beer category, as the protein and fat content from the whey creating a “unique flavour and texture”, says Belvoir Brewery.

The chestnut-coloured drink is made by infusing the whey directly in the fermenter with the chilled wort from the copper, with live brewer’s yeast added to allow fermentation.

Not the first to launch a beer fighting food waste, the partnership follows Adelie Foods joining forces with Hambleton Brewery in September to launch Toast Ale – a beer made from surplus bread.

The food-to-go business started the partnership by supplying more than 220kg of waste bread for Toast Ale, which is brewed using surplus bread from bakeries, delis and sandwich manufacturers. This translated to more than 6,000 bottles of beer made solely from Adelie’s contributions, with all profits donated to food waste charity Feedback.

Such initiatives are a great way for suppliers to engage in the war on food waste in a manner that really captures the public imagination. But, of course, the remains much more to do when it comes to tackling food waste, as we keep highlighting through our Waste Not Want Not campaign (our latest piece of insight, on how technology is changing the war on food waste, has just gone live).

So, there’s never been a better time to don your beer hats and pledge your support for our campaign to tackle the scandalous levels of waste in the food and drink industry.