The Hackney Brewery in U.K. created a beer out of leftover bread from bakeries, as part of food waste charity Feedback's project that addresses the "global issue of food waste," and named it the Toast Ale brew, reported Belfast Telegraph on Saturday.
"Tackling the global issue of food waste has taken me all over the world," noted Tristram Stuart, the founder of Feedback and the brain behind Toast Ale. "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."
"We hope to put ourselves out of business," Stuart added. "The day there's no waste bread is the day Toast Ale can no longer exist."
The beer is set to launch on Monday and may be purchased online starting January 28 for £3 per bottle, and will also be sold in restaurants, bars and pubs.
According to The Guardian on Friday, Toast Ale is produced by mashing surplus bread to create breadcrumbs, which will then be toasted and brewed together with malted barley, yeast and hops.
Toasting the crumbs allegedly adds a caramel taste to the brew, which balances the bitterness of hops, resulting to a malty taste comparable to amber ales.
"The important thing for us, as brewers, was to create a beer that tasted good and stood up against other craft beers," said co-founder of Hackney Brewery, Jon Swain. "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."
For every 330 milliliter bottle of Toast Ale, the brewery uses one slice of surplus bread.
All profits from the brew will reportedly be donated to Feedback.
"This seems like a great idea," noted Greg Hughes, director of Brew U.K. "There are lots of different flavors and ingredients from artisan breads and it seems like an excellent and potentially very creative way of using up a staple item that most people will have in their bread bin."
