Purity: beer with a clear conscience

Making beer takes a lot from the earth, with grain and hops plucked from the soil and water pumped from deep rock strata. More and more brewers are now wedded to the belief that they need to “put something back” to help support a healthy environment.

The Purity Brewery in Warwickshire is an “eco-friendly” brewery, with a powerful emphasis on saving on energy. During the brewing process, steam and vapour are converted back into water. All the pumps – and breweries have a lot of pumps – work continuously rather than being turned off and on.

The brewery is based on a farm in Great Alne near Warwick. It’s an area of outstanding natural beauty, with villages packed with half-timbered Tudor buildings and Shakespeare by the bucket-load in nearby Stratford. The Heart of England Forest is adjacent to the brewery and many ramblers, walkers and cyclists drop in to Purity to pick up beer and clothing from the on-site shop.

The brewery is 10 years old this year and a celebration beer is planned for October. The company was founded by Paul Halsey and James Minkin and today Halsey is the man in the driving seat. The seat is usually a bicycle saddle as -- in keeping with his attitude to life -- he prefers to cycle rather than drive.

He’s a Brummie but lived in Yorkshire for 20 years and worked for Stones, the Bass subsidiary in Sheffield. He moved on to run pubs and restaurants in Yorkshire but was keen to have his own brewery. The dream became reality when he teamed up with James Minkin and they had the good fortune to be offered buildings and space on the farm at Great Alne.

Halsey (below) describes his philosophy as “brewing with a conscience. Our industry must be greener. It takes five pints of water to make one pint of beer and we must reduce our reliance on water.”

Purity has developed a wetlands system alongside the brewery. It’s made up of six linked pools and reed beds (bottom photo). Water from the brewing process is pumped to the pools and what happens then is a triumph of nature.

The water in the first pool is a dirty brown and stinks to high heaven. But as the water moves through the reeds, algae forms on the surface and that means life. The colour of the water changes and wild life emerges. The final pool has crystal clear water with ducks and moor hens swimming in it. The system offers a habitat for butterflies, moths, insects and water boatmen and enables pure, clean water to be returned to the brewery and recycled. Nothing is wasted, with used grain and hops passed to the farmer as animal feed and fertiliser.

Purity is a good example of the dynamic craft sector of the brewing industry. It started with a staff of three, now employs 35 people, produces 15,000 barrels of beer a year and in 2014 had a turnover of £5.2m.

A new brewhouse was installed in old cattle sheds two years ago at a cost of £1.8m. The brewery has a cosmopolitan flavour: the kit is German-built, the brewer is a Frenchman, Florent Vialan from Lyon (top picture), while the brewery manager is Aaron Taubman from Chicago.

The new kit will enable Purity to grow its capacity by 30%. The system has 11 fermenting vessels but Florent Vialan – known as Flo – is squeezing two new 60-barrel vessels into the brewhouse to keep up with demand.

The core brands are UBU, a 4.5% amber-coloured bitter that takes its name from a farm dog somewhat unfairly called a Useless Bloody Urchin. Mad Goose, 4.2%, a modern pale ale, also has a farm connection: a goose has been known to attack visitors, including Stephen Gould, the managing director of Everards Brewery in Leicester, an event that should keep Purity free from the risk of takeover.

Pure Gold, 3.8%, is a modern, citrus-laden golden ale while Saddle Black, 5.1%, is the polar opposite, a dark beer that appeals to local cycling clubs as well as founder Paul Halsey. The beers have been joined by recent additions, Longhorn IPA, 5%, and a 4.5% lager called Lawless, first available in keg but now going into cask as well.

Purity owns no pubs but works in collaboration with the Pure Bar & Kitchen in Birmingham, which specialises in good food and beer. The brewery concentrates on the free trade in Birmingham, Stratford, Warwick and Worcester but sells as far south as Bristol and now has a footing in London. It also supplies Enterprise, M&B, Spirit and Stonegate pubcos and in total has more than 500 outlets for its beers.

But commercial success won’t weaken Paul Halsey’s resolve to remain a brewery that supports the environment. Beer is doing its bit to save the planet.

*First published May 2015