Penticton brewery says ‘cheers’ to zero-waste

Penticton, B.C.’s Tin Whistle Brewing marked Earth Day by announcing it’s now a zero-waste operation, meaning the brewery sends zero waste to landfill from its brewing operation.

Already known for being the first carbon-neutral brewery in British Columbia, co-owner and environmental lead Alexis Esseltine said the operation has been on the way to becoming zero waste for the last three years.

“We started by doing a waste audit and digging through our garbage to see what we were sending to landfill. Then we worked slowly and methodically to Reduce, Reuse or Recycle all of our waste (in that order). Being zero waste further lessens our carbon footprint and supports our work as B.C.’s first carbon-neutral brewery,” said Esseltine.

This accomplishment calls for a cheers by the brewery which is why Tin Whistle released its Cherry Blossom Japanese Lager in celebration.

The beer was made with waste Sake Rice known as Kasu from Kizuna Sake, Penticton’s new and only sake brewery.

“The idea for the beer came when Kan from Kizuna Sake walked through our doors with a lone bag of Kasu and challenged us to do something with this mildly sweet smelling, fermented rice that is leftover from their sake brewing process,” said Timothy Scoon, co-owner of Tin Whistle Brewing. “On our small batch test system we trialled one version after another to get the recipe and process right. There is no brewing guide that tells how to turn gummy, mushy wasted rice into delicious beer.”

The brewery is familiar with saving and using wasted ingredients in beer after it released its Wasted Grape Gewurztraminer and Merlot Table Beers made with leftover grape skins from Dirty Laundry Vineyard’s winemaking process.

Tin Whistle’s Cherry Blossom Japanese Lager will be available in the brewery’s historic Cannery Trade Centre taproom in Penticton, as well as in select private and B.C. Government liquor stores throughout the Okanagan.

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