WELSH BREWERIES AND VINEYARDS GET CREATIVE TO DRIVE SUSTAINABILITY IN THE FOOD AND DRINK SECTOR

Independent breweries and vineyards across Wales are developing innovative solutions to address the environmental and covid recovery challenges facing the Welsh food and drink industry.

Breweries and vineyards across Wales who have committed to more sustainable innovation and practices have received vital funding from Welsh Government’s Decarbonisation and Covid Recovery Challenge Fund to lead the way for the sector’s post-pandemic recovery.

With an emphasis on the Welsh circular economy, the investment has seen Wales’s independent breweries and vineyards adopt new technologies and processes, along with innovative approaches to cut waste, in a bid to reduce carbon emissions.

The businesses – who are pursuing growth through B Corp principles – are using a variety of sustainable practices to reduce their environmental impact. These include using renewable energy, creative waste reduction practices, sourcing locally grown ingredients, and collaborating with Welsh producers and suppliers. They are also developing new products and services to meet the changing needs of consumers, including adopting more sustainable, carbon-neutral packaging.

Welsh breweries and vineyards taking part include:

Drop Bear Beer Co – the world’s first female-run, carbon-neutral, alcohol-free craft brewery and Wales’s first B Corp brewery has already supported over 50 global sustainability initiatives and planted over 2,000 trees

 Ancre Hill Estates – a Monmouthshire-based vineyard pioneering new sustainable biodynamic and organic viticulture methods, tools, and natural solutions to protect the soil, the vines, and the grape crops without having to use environmentally-damaging chemicals and processes

Flowerhorn Brewery – the Cardiff-based craft brewery leading the way for microbrewery diversification, using spent grains to create dog biscuits, and innovating a range of sauces influenced by the flavours of their beers

 Sticle Vineyard – a Carmarthenshire vineyard committed to zero-waste wineries in Wales, investing in research and development to eliminate all waste generated in the process of making and promoting wine, adopting a ‘5 R’ approach: Recycle, Refuse, Reduce, Reuse and Repurpose 

Hive Mind Mead and Brew Co – combining a love of beekeeping and brewing, the brothers behind the meadery are helping a Celtic drink make a mainstream comeback, using sustainable practices and packaging – including honey from their own Welsh bees, and a transition from bottles to more environmentally-friendly cans

Stone Circle Mead Company – a Welsh meadery committed to reimagining Welsh mead for today’s market, investing in research to boost Welsh honey farming and to raise awareness about the nutritional and environmental benefits of using Welsh honey

Commenting on the success of the project for Wales’s breweries and vineyards, Kit Newell of Hive Mind Mead and Brew Co said:

“A big part of this project for us was to reduce our carbon footprint. Recycling aluminium cans uses about 90% less energy than recycling glass bottles, which is a compelling reason [to change].”

Joelle Drummond, Co-Founder of Drop Bear Beer Co stresses the urgency of this change.

“We don’t have time to just say, ‘oh, in 10 years’ time, maybe we’ll look at this. The time is now.”

Adding to this, Christiane Racine of Sticle Vineyard said:

“Thinking local is a big factor in sustainability. [Through our research] the Welsh vineyards wishing to decarbonise and implement sustainable practices to Zero-Waste in their Wine Estate now have a step-by-step approach to do so.”

These environmentally conscious changes have led to increased commercial opportunities for the participating businesses, resulting in significant and sustainable business growth within the sector.