THE LAST QUARTER
Coles toasts sustainable beer
Supermarket giant Coles and beer label Local Brewing find sweet reward in the social impact of sour beer .
BY IRENE DONG
Melbourne-based craft beer brand Local Brewing has collaborated with Coles Liquor to launch a sustainable sour beer : Surplus Sour Watermelon Beer .
The beer is sourced from excess melons donated by Coles produce supplier Rombola Family Farms , and uses unsold Coles bread to help fermentation . According to the business , this is the first fruit beer that is made from excess fruit and bread in the market .
Instead of using modern brewing technology , the brewery uses a traditional method by adding yeast from bread in order to maintain the influence of sour or acidic flavours .
Co-founder Nick Campbell said the partnership will create a positive social impact and help feed people in need – each purchase of a Surplus Sour can deliver a meal to someone in need through SecondBite .
“ Our collaboration with Coles Liquor has been incredible – it ’ s allowed us to brew a genuinely sustainable beer and increase our social impact ,” said Campbell .
“ We know from the release of previous sour beers that customers embrace this genuinely unique product , and it ’ s a great way to use food that might otherwise be wasted .”
Fernando Rombola , Rombola Family Farms CEO , emphasised that products like this create an opportunity to increase people ’ s interest in sustainable agriculture and reducing food waste .
“ This is super important for us – sustainability is not just about the environment , it ’ s financial sustainability , it ’ s sustainability for our people and sustainability for the land . If we are not looking after our land , how are we going to be able to reap the rewards from it ?” said Rombola .
“ If this product is successful , we ’ d definitely like to see this as a different stream ; the more sustainable we are , the more we can grow with fewer hectares , which is what we are always trying to do .”