This month, we’ve teamed up with the good folks over at Toast Ale to bring you a low-alcohol lemongrass lager as part of their Rise Up campaign – a series of special brews in collaboration with other B Corp brands to raise awareness about the issues in our food system in the countdown to COP26 (that’s the UN climate conference to you & me!).
who are Toast?
Toast Ale is a craft beer brewery who saw a problem with the UK's food system and wanted to make a change. Unfortunately, the food industry sees high volumes of wastage - the perfect example being bread, which sees up to 44% of the supply never even being eaten! That's around 24 million slices of bread a day. Bonkers!
In 2015, Toast was established to try and combat these issues, with the idea of saving that surplus fresh bread (which would otherwise be destroyed!) and using it in place of "virgin" barley to create beer. This helps to cut down on food waste, and creates some pretty delicious brews for us all to enjoy too!
what is Rise Up?
The UK food industry is in need of a shake up to help make the necessary changes to stop both wastage and the wider environmental impact it has. Toast are collaborating with 7 different B Corp brands (that includes us, hello!) to help draw attention to 7 different elements that are impacted by the current issues.
B Corp businesses essentially have made a pledge - to work harder, do better, and leave this world a better place than how we found it, through whatever avenues our businesses take us. Social and environmental responsibility is top of that list, and we're very proud to be able to call ourselves a part of it. You can find out more about what makes a B Corp just here. The profits from the Rise Up collaborations are then given to charities fixing the food system.
But it's more than just that - Toast calls on their drinkers to become the activists. The Toast x teapigs edition focuses in particular on the impact on our oceans - both in terms of the plastic pollution, to the one-quarter of fish that are discarded. We're incredibly proud to have been the first tea brand to be awarded the plastic free trust mark by A Plastic Planet, and we understand just how important reducing the use of plastics is.
There's still lots of work to be done. The food production system is arguably the biggest impact humans have on the planet - it’s the biggest driver of deforestation, use of freshwater, source of greenhouse gas emissions, and cause of the mass extinction of species. Yet, one-third of all food is wasted - that's 1.3 billion tons per year. Change needs to come, and fast. So write to your MPs, let them know what changes you think are important to see. You can even scan the barcode on the can and be taken straight to a form on the Toast site that helps you build that letter in a few simple steps, or click here. Couldn't be easier!
tell me about this collab...
Never thought you'd ask! We wanted to create something a little different - a little outside the box. So when Toast told us they were looking to create a 0.5% low-alcohol lager that could not only do good but help people cut back their alcohol content, we knew just the pairing for it - lemongrass, a herb that's been used for centuries across South Asia, South America, and beyond, known for both its incredible soft, citrusy flavour, and super soothing aromatic qualities. Unlike stouts and other darker types of beer, lager naturally has a light and crisp finish which compliments the refreshing lemongrass beautifully, leaving this a finely-balanced, hazy craft lager packed full of citrus flavours. A total gamechanger in our books!
where can I get it?
You can find the Toast Ale x teapigs 0.5% low-alcohol lemongrass lager on the Toast website (from £3.50 per 440ml can), as well as in draught reusable growlers at the Toast taproom in Southwark, by subscription to Draught Drop, and at Waitrose Unpacked and Selfridges stores. But be quick! It's limited edition, so once it's gone, it's gone!
competition time!
To celebrate this exciting collaboration, we're giving two lucky people the chance to win a case of Lemongrass Lager plus a bundle of our bestselling teas. Click here to enter!
