Submitted by Susannah Cook on Wed, 2022-04-27 09:21
The production of alcohol is an incredibly energy intensive process as large amounts of water and fertilizer are required to grow the grain, grapes, and botanicals. Additionally, extensive amounts of heat and water are needed in the distilling and brewing processes and a vast amount of energy is used in the packaging and distributing processes. With each process contributing to CO2 emissions, perhaps we should be thinking more about our environmental hangover?
To try and minimise the effect Darwin College has on the environment, a selection of more sustainable alcoholic beverages are being trialled at DarBar during our College Green Week. The more sustainable beverages include beers made from surplus food, the Toast session IPA, made from surplus bread, and Seven Bro7hers x Kellogg’s pale ale made from surplus rice crispies! Other featured drinks include Freestar non-alcoholic lager, where the brewing process uses 80% less water and produces 70% less waste and Lord Conrads cider, which is locally produced in Cambridge only a 30-minute cycle from Darwin! DarBar is famous for its whisky collection and so it makes sense that the final beverage being stocked is the Mc’Nean whisky. This whisky is bottled in a 100% recycled glass bottle and produced from organic Scottish barley, that is distilled in a distillery powered by renewable energy on the west-coast of Scotland, which sounds quite idyllic to me.
So far, the trial of the more sustainable beverages has had a positive reception, with a particular interest in the Bro7hers x Kellogg’s pale ale and as always the whisky is a popular choice. Stocking a few sustainable alcoholic beverages for Darwin Green Week is important on a small scale, but by highlighting the environmental impact alcohol has on the environment while offering more sustainable alternatives we hope to encourage people to make the more sustainable choice! We also hope that other Colleges may follow suit and start including more sustainable alcohol products in their bars so more of the University community can be aware of the better choices that can be made when drinking.
If you are a member of Darwin or a guest of a Darwinian please do come down to DarBar this week to try some of these sustainable beverages!
Written by: Juliet Tye, Darwin College student.