Putting sustainability at the heart of the brewery

Sustainability is one of the core values I wanted to build into the business from the beginning, and one of the first decisions I made was to launch into cans, not bottles, as they are lighter, use less CO2 to transport and are widely recycled.

Starting out, we brewed using other people’s equipment, which put a constraint on how much we could do to reduce our impact. But having our own brewery was always the goal. And by taking control of production, we could really push our sustainability targets.

In 2023, I found the perfect site, just outside Edinburgh at Rosemains Steading. It’s not just a beautiful place; our new home gives us access to locally sourced renewable energy. Wood chips from local forestry power a large biomass boiler attached to the brewery, producing plentiful hot water to brew our beer. Brewing is energy-intensive, and since switching to biomass heated water, we’ve reduced our energy consumption per litre of beer produced by one-third. For our electricity, we top up our energy needs with solar power, with panels across the roofs of the farm buildings.

As well as brewing on 100% renewable energy, we also waste as little as we can. We use about half as much water per litre of beer brewed compared to most breweries of our size. Leftover grain goes to feed local cattle - they go mad for it! Our hops go to compost in the walled gardens on the estate, and our liquid effluent is collected and used in land spreading to put nutrients back into the soil.

There is always more work to be done. This year, we’re exploring the development of a wetland filtration system and whetehr it would enable us to put clean water back into the water table, and improve wildlife habitat at the same time.