Drink beer to help the planet! A London brewery creates the world’s first carbon-destroying pint
Whether it’s turning off lights when not in use or bringing a reusable water bottle as an alternative to buying a plastic bottle, many people are trying to take steps to reduce our carbon footprint.
Now there’s a brand new approach to helping the planet, and it’s good news if you’re a fan of a cool pint.
Gipsy Hill Brewery in London claims to have produced the world’s first carbon-destroying beer.
Swell Lager and Trail Pale are brewed with regeneratively farmed barley and hops that have been reclaimed and reused.
That means you can probably enjoy your pint knowing it’s removing more greenhouse gases from the atmosphere than it’s creating.
Swell Lager and Trail Pale are brewed with regeneratively farmed barley and hops that have been reclaimed and reused.
While various breweries comparable to BrewDog claim to have carbon-destroying beers, this one relied on carbon offsets.
In this controversial process, corporations offset their CO2 emissions by financing equivalent CO2 financial savings elsewhere.
BrewDog, for example, claims its beer is carbon neutral because of its 9,308 hectares of bushland in the Scottish Highlands.
However, Gipsy Hill’s new beers mark a key time in the brewery’s production of highly carbon-destroying beers without carbon offsets.
Gipsy Hill used licensed regenerative barley from Wildfarmed to create the beer.
This company works with farmers to implement regenerative measures, which means that raising barley captures additional carbon in the soil than it releases into the atmosphere.
“We’re making it easier for people to tackle some of the world’s biggest challenges, like climate change and food security, by consuming food and drink made from healthy, regenerative soil ingredients,” said Edd Lees, co-founder of Wildfarmed.
“Our wild-grown barley sequesters carbon, increases biodiversity and is the gold standard for regenerative agriculture.”
Gipsy Hill’s new beer marks a major milestone in the brewery’s production of a highly carbon-destroying beer without regard to carbon emissions.
A typical pint of Swell Lager has a carbon footprint of -40 gCO2e, while a pint of Trail Pale produces -30 gCO2e.
This restorative barley is then mixed with recovered hops from previous batches of beer.
These hops are often discarded, meaning their use results in zero greenhouse gas emissions, according to Gipsy Hill Brewery.
A typical pint of Swell Lager has a carbon footprint of -40 gCO2e, while a pint of Trail Pale produces -30 gCO2e.
For comparability Imperial College London predicts that a pint of internationally produced lager has a CO2 footprint of 759 g CO2e.
Sam McMeeken, co-founder of Gipsy Hill Brewery, said: “Making quality beer has been our obsession for 10 years, but I felt we needed to find a way to do it more sustainably.
“Great beer should be guilt-free, and with our new Trail Pale and Swell Lager, our drinkers can for the first time enjoy a pint with confidence, knowing it’s actively improving the environment and helping to solve our climate crisis.”
The carbon-negative beer is now available in a number of locations, including Gipsy Hill’s bar in south London and the Youngs collection of boroughs across the UK.
MailOnline has contacted Gipsy Hill for pricing data.
WHEN DID PEOPLE START DRINKING BEER?
Humans have a long historical past of drinking alcohol.
The primitive cultures of Mesopotamia are believed to date back to 10,000 BC.
The earliest evidence of beer consumption dates back to 9,000 years ago in northern China.
Made using hawthorn fruit, Chinese wild grapes, rice and honey, this historic concoction is the oldest identified fermented beverage in the historical past – even predating wine.
The earliest evidence of beer consumption dates back to 9,000 years ago in northern China
To make it, corn was spread on the floor and moistened in the maker’s mouth to convert the starch in the corn into fermentable sugars—before it was “spitted” into the beer.
Throughout historical past, the consumption of alcohol could help people appear extra artistic, selling language, artwork, and event of faith.
This is because alcohol lowers inhibitions and makes people feel extra untimely.
The Egyptians are believed to have started brewing beer around 5000 BC based on papyrus scrolls.
They prepared issues such as dates, pomegranates and various local herbs.
Around 3150 BC, the Egyptians used industrial-scale breweries to produce beer for workers building the Pyramids of Giza.
Beer eventually made its way to Europe from the Middle East, a place rich in barley crops that provided brewers with plenty of uncooked products.
Experts have now discovered evidence of beer brewing in Greece through the Bronze Age.
Researchers imagine that these prehistoric individuals enjoyed alcoholic beverages in spherical events throughout the 12 months and never just when the grapes were ripe.
It was not only nutritious, but also a safe way of taking water.
In the Middle Ages, malted barley became the main source of fermented sugar, and beer became the drink we all know as we speak.
