Tate bread beer to help save the planet

The Tate galleries have teamed up with Fourpure Brewing and Toast Ale to make a beer, Elemental, which uses a large amount of surplus bread. Toast is a social enterprise group with a mission to buy up bread that would otherwise be thrown away. It works with artisan brewers, including Wiper & True and Stroud Brewery, to produce collaborative beers.

It has now joined forces with FourPure in Bermondsey to launch Elemental, which is on sale in Tate galleries and bars. The galleries specialise in offering a range of beers craft beers from innovative breweries throughout Britain.

Toast points out that 44 per cent of bread is never eaten. Sandwich makers, for example, discard crusts. The company adds that globally one third of all food is wasted.

“Toast is on a mission to change that,” it says. “We source surplus bread from bakeries and the sandwich industry, using it to replace one third of the grain bill.

“All our profits are poured into charities working to fix the food system. It’s the best thing since, well, you know...”

The Tate has been inspired by its work with Studio Olafur Eliasson Kitchen to create Elemental with Toast and Fourpure. Both the Tate and Olafur Eliasson champion sustainable food preparation, emphasising low food miles and sourcing quality ingredients from British suppliers that have ethical and sustainable business practices. Olafur Eliasson is a Danish artist now based in Berlin who regularly exhibits at Tate Modern and is also involved in the galleries’ kitchens and restaurants.

Andrew Downs, operations director at the Tate, says: “The Fourpure brew is particularly special because of its incredible sustainability message. We’ve chosen to work with Fourpure and Toast because not only do they make great beer but they also align with our own sustainability values.

“Fourpure is located in Bermondsey, which is just three miles from Tate Modern and is industry-leading in the way is has converted to packaging only canned beers. This is sustainable, as all cans are infinitely recyclable. And Toast is a brilliant organisation, hell-bent on tackling the problem of food waste by brewing with bread.”

Elemental has the tag line Cucumis Sativus and is made with cucumbers along with malted, barley, bread, hops, yeast and water. The secondary name means it’s not only made with cucumbers but also has a degree of wild fermentation.

The beer is brewed with pale malt and 200 kilograms of bread. The single hop is Magnum. Following the copper boil with hops, 300 cucumbers are added to each batch of beer along with a lactic acid culture.

The 3.4 per cent beer has a hazy gold colour with a tart aroma more reminiscent of lemons than cucumbers, with a bready malt note and floral hops. Cucumber kicks in on the palate with lemon drops fruit, spicy hops and sourdough bread. The finish has notes of tart lemon and cucumber balancing fresh bread and spicy hops.

The beer is designed to accompany vegetarian dishes from the Tate kitchens prepared with fermented vegetables and vibrant salads. The beer cans have a OR code that buyers can scan and be taken to a short video about the brew and how it’s made.

The beer is on sale in all Tate bars and can be bought online from www.fourpure.com £3.50 for a 440ml can or £12 for four cans.

For more information about the work of Toast go to www.toastale.com.