Northern Monk has teamed up with Toast Ale and Muntons Malt to brew a beer using regenerative grain and surplus bread.
One for the Earth, a 5.0% abv pale ale brewed to celebrate Earth Day 2024 (22 April) was made using regenerative barley from Muntons, and fresh, surplus bread supplied by Toast.
The one-off brew (rsp: £5.20/440ml) – which has launched via Northern Monk and Toast’s DTC platforms and in independent bottle shops and bars – had “a golden hue and an earthy, spicy depth” said Northern Monk.
Sixty per cent of the grain bill was made up of regenerative agriculture malt from a single farm in Yorkshire, Northern Monk said. This was complemented by 10% of the grain bill coming from surplus bread supplied by Toast.
It was, the Leeds-based brewer claimed, “some of the lowest carbon footprint malt in the world”.
“Having learned about the positive impact regen agriculture has on soil health, biodiversity and carbon emissions, we jumped at the chance to bring some into our supply chain,” said Ciaran Shier, Northern Monk’s positive impact director. “Earth Day presented us with an ideal opportunity to brew our first beer with this malt but we wanted to take it one step further by combining it with an abundant food waste – bread.
“We reached out to the experts at Toast for their advice and they helped bring the concept to reality.”
Despite relying heavily on locally sourced malt and surplus bread, One for the Earth contains North American hops Citra, Bru-1 and Sabro.
Shier said this was because Northern Monk had agreed its hop contracts for the year in advance of deciding to brew the beer.
“We would have in fact increased our carbon footprint had we ordered specific hops for this brew, as we were already committed to receiving the hops we did use,” he added.
First held in the US in 1970, Earth Day is a now global demonstration of support for environmental protection in over 190 countries.
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