How a Scottish brewery is introducing a sustainable grain from Africa - and what it means for the future of brewing

As some American breweries have started to use Nasa technology to capture carbon, Rosalind Erskine finds out about Brewgooder’s latest launch.

It’s getting harder and harder to ignore the effects of climate change on thee planet. This month alone has seen sustained temperatures of 25C to 28C in Scotland, not to mention the highs of 30C last summer.

Many businesses are subsequently focusing on ways to cut emissions and generally become greener. One of these is Glasgow-based brewery Brewgooder, which has recently launched what they say is a climate positive beer.

Founded in 2016 by Alan Mahon and James Hughes, this company has a social conscience at its heart. After contracting a parasite from contaminated water in Nepal while travelling, Mr Mahon decided he wanted to work towards ending poverty and ensuring everyone had access to clean water.

Brewgooder is using the grain fonio to create its Session IPA

After meeting Mr Hughes, and bonding over their love of beer, Brewgooder was launched in 2016 on World Water Day following a successful crowdfunder. The first Brewgooder cans of lager were released and, after three months, enough beer had been sold to support the first Brewgooder water project in Malawi, which supplies consistent clean water to a village of 5,000 people.

By 2018 the business had grown, with more stockists and tens of thousands of supporters. Brewgooder also became the first Scottish business to be B-Corp accredited and continued to fund water projects across multiple countries.

By 2021, new beers were being launched and the branding was given a revamp. Fast forward to this year, and with Covid in the rearview mirror, the business owners have teamed up with Brooklyn Brewery to create the UK's first beer using West African ‘super-grain’ fonio.

One of Africa’s oldest cereals, fonio has strong sustainability credentials due to its drought resistance and ability to grow in nutrient-poor soil without fertilisers and pesticides. The collaboration between Brewgooder and Brooklyn Brewery has the dual benefit of purchasing goods from West African farmers, while also re-investing part of the funds to support the development of rural communities within fonio farming countries.

Mr Mahon said: “It all started about four years ago when I caught up with the brewmaster of Brooklyn Brewery, Garret Oliver, when he was in London and we talked about doing collaborative work. He was interested in what we were doing and I’ve always been a big fan.

"Half the conversation was taken up with Garret talking about this West African super grain, fonio, as it grows in really tough conditions in the Sahel region. It is drought resistant and can be grown without pesticides or fertilisers.

"On the face of things, this was a really interesting grain to work with. It was totally experimental at the time, and probably still is.”

While the environmental aspects appealed, Mr Mahon explained it was the impact this could have on the community in West Africa that most appealed to him. “The most compelling thing was that the grain is effectively being sourced through smallholder farmers,” he said. “These people, who were living in communities in countries that we would consider as potential beneficiaries of the water work that we do, were being turned into our customers.”

While fonio isn’t a completely unknown grain, Mr Mahon describes it as having a ‘rebirth’ as it is 5,000 years old and is prevalent in cultures and cuisine of the region of West Africa in particular. Due to chain migration, it appears in other countries such as France, Switzerland and Italy, but not so much in the UK.

“It’s very difficult to get here, so we import by ship from Mali, therefore have set up a supply chain from scratch,” he said. “I would say that [fonio] is having a renaissance, in the same way that quinoa did ten or 15 years ago. There's the potential to follow that trajectory where it is known as a highly nutritious super grain, which is used for many different things outside of brewing. This could be part of the mainstreaming of the grain, but I would say that awareness of it is super super low right now.”

The fonio beer is a Session IPA canned at 4.3 per cent ABV. Mr Mahon said: “We’ve not had to sacrifice, flavour or style, or anything within this to make this beer work.”

It is the first beer made using an experimental grain that’s available ‘at scale’.

Garret Oliver, brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery, said: “I love the impactful work that Brewgooder are doing, and first approached them several years ago about working with fonio. The pandemic slowed us all down, but I’m thrilled to see this project finally out in the world.

"The goal was to brew an accessible IPA that demonstrated the unique fruity flavours that fonio can bring to beer. I think the entire brewing community ought to be excited about this super grain that few of us have even heard about.”

Brewgooder is one of many Scottish breweries that are honing in on how they can make changes to help the planet, so is this the future of brewing? Mr Mahon said: “We’re not the first to experiment with sustainable grain and we won’t be the last. Hopefully there will be an accelerator effect.

"Will folio be the future of sustainable brewing? I hope so. Are there other grains out there? Yes, but are there other grains out there that can help build supply chains and empower people at the same time? I think that’s definitely possible and I hope this gives people an example to follow. This might not be the silver bullet as people are increasingly using technology to carbon capture at source, there could be elements of wastewater reuse, and brewing, which I think is something that Bill Gates is pioneering or at least backing with, with some of his investments, which is really exciting.

"One of the things we want our journey to show is, how do we make our beer as people positive as possible, and at the same time as planet positive as possible? There's just so much innovation out there.”

When asked about what fonio is replacing in traditional brewing, Mr Mahon said the grain was better for the environment and people in general given existing supply chain issues. He said: “What I would say is that this is grown without pesticides and fertiliser, so there is a definite sustainability benefit when compared to a mass produced commodity such as wheat. There's challenges around where some of the wheat comes from in the brewing industry – whether it comes from places like Ukraine or Russia where there's challenges or there's a problematic supply chain. For me, it's definitely about proving that this grain can be scaled up and can be scaled up in a sustainable way.”