I am not a beer drinker- in fact the smell of it makes me feel a bit yuk, but my husband is a long time convert from lager to real ales with a particular penchant for small breweries.
The brewing process of this fresh and
unique beer involves slicing and mashing bread to make breadcrumbs ready for the brewing process. The pale ale is
brewed with malted barley, hops and yeast. The bread adds caramel notes that
balance the bitter hops, giving a malty taste similar to amber ales and wheat
beers.
He has sampled quite a few brews in his self-imposed mission to find good ale but he has yet to try the latest trend -bread to beer ale.
Hackney Brewery creates Toast Ale using fresh surplus bread that would otherwise be thrown away by bakeries, delis and sandwich makers.
With a slice of bread being used in every bottle of Toast Ale, you can enjoy a cold beer whilst helping to do good.
The brainchild of Tristram Stuart, an international award-winning author, TED talk influencer and campaigner on the topic of food waste, Toast is on a mission to prove that the alternative to waste is delicious.
All proceeds from Toast Ale are donated to food waste charity Feedback which was founded by Tristram.
Feedback aims to help to put a stop to food waste by working with governments, businesses and civil societies at a national and international level to catalyse change in social attitudes and demonstrate innovative solutions to tackle food waste.
The organisation hopes to halve food waste by 2025.
Tristram said: “Tackling the global issue of food waste has taken me all over the world. It was at the Brussels Beer Project where I first found out about this innovative brewing process that turns a colossal global problem into a delicious, drinkable solution.
Jon Swain from Hackney Brewery said: “We absolutely jumped at the chance to join Feedback’s fight against food waste. The important thing for us, as brewers, was to create a beer that tasted good and stood up against other craft beers."
He added:" We worked hard to brew a beer that wasn’t just a fad but something that people could enjoy time after time and would have a significant impact. “We hope to put ourselves out of business. The day there’s no waste bread is the day Toast Ale can no longer exist.”
You can buy ready made Toast Ale or you can make your own and use up some of your own left over bread. It's a staggering fact that 44% of bread in the UK, a staggering 24 million slices a year in homes, is thrown away each year.
Fancy a go? Check out the recipe at the bottom of this post - I've put it there so you can print out the post and cut off the recipe if you'd like to.
If you'd rather buy it ready made, Toast
is available to buy at ToastAle.com with an
RRP of £3.00. The list of stockists is growing every day as craft ale
retailers, pubs, bars and restaurants join the bread to beer ale movement.
Check out this website for a full list of stockists http://www.toastale.com/stockists/ .
Disclaimer: I received no compensation for publishing this post.