Aberdeen-based brewery, BrewDog, recently announced new branding and new sustainability initiatives. The brewery has launched a new six-point plan to reduce its environmental impact called BrewDog Tomorrow. “We have always believed that business should be a force for good and that brave thinking and bold actions are the only way to make a real impact,” the brewery said in a statement. “Today, we are in the middle of a climate crisis. It is a crisis of our own design, driven by big business. We recognise our contribution and the limitations of our industry.”
BrewDog’s six-point plan includes giving people the chance to become a BrewDog Equity Punk by trading in 50 empty cans. It will also be giving old cans a ‘second life’ by using them again to fill with their beer. Imperfect and excess beer will no longer be thrown away but will be distilled and turned into vodka. CEO of BrewDog, James Watt announced the company’s latest product. The company prides itself on its commitment to sustainable consumer goods products and announced a new product that will leverage a circular economy in a couple of ways. Since its founding, the company has pioneered renewable energy usage, electrification of its fleet, utilisation of its waste as bioproducts for production and is now looking to further its sustainability credentials.
The company boasts carbon-negativity thanks to its continued efforts to reduce its reliance on fossil-fuel-derived energy and removes twice as much carbon from the atmosphere as it emits through its operations. In 2020, the company also acquired a 9,308-acre plot of land in the Scottish Highlands intended for the planting of trees to create its ‘BrewDog Forest’ – an initiative that will offset the company’s production emissions even further. Watt announced this new item that will soon accompany its line of sustainably brewed beers. “As part of our commitment to sustainability at BrewDog we are launching a brand-new vodka in 2022 made entirely from waste and packaged in a paper bottle”, Watt said. “This revolutionary new vodka is distilled 100% from beer that would otherwise be wasted and packaged in a ground-breaking bottle. Every brewery wastes beer: Sometimes batches are out of spec, sometimes beer goes out of date. We are now going to turn our waste beer into this brand-new vodka” he added. Similar to other beverage suppliers, BrewDog is making the switch to paper-based bottles, which are natural and 100% biodegradable.
The brewery will also be encouraging people to brew their own beer to reduce the carbon footprint and liquid transport miles. To this end, BrewDog will be making all its recipes, new brew standards, and accountability reports available and open source. In addition to this, the brewery will also invest $1 million a year in research and initiatives that “help our industry and have a positive impact on the world”. BrewDog recently opened its first full vegan bar in Dalston, London, while the city also saw a pilot alcohol-free bar open in Old Street for Dry January.
