Surrey-based One Planet Brewing Co has launched its first beer made using 100% solar power generated on site. The eco-friendly brewer makes all its beer using solar panels to generate enough electricity to power all its brewing activities.
One Planet Brewing is a 15-hectolitre brewery, which launched with an initial investment of £250,000 from Hogs Back Brewery and is based on the same site in Tongham, near Farnham.
Their first beer is a 5.5% full-bodied Hazy IPA, which we were delighted to receive. The cloudy IPA impressed everyone here at Hand Crafted Drinks Magazine. It is a super-smooth creamy pale ale, with distinct citrus and berry notes. This is an immensely enjoyable IPA. which for a new start-up to be producing is a credit to the brewers.
One Planet Brewery’s IPA is a mature and confident IPA, launched in an increasingly competitive market, which can be traced back to the mid-1600s when pale ales were being produced as a premium product; by the mid 1700s, IPAs, brewed in the UK, were being exported to India.
The addition of further hops used to produce the IPAs helped extend the shelf life of the ales, which was essential in much warmer climates.
The brewing team at One Planet is led by head brewer Miles Chesterman, who is developing a series of craft styles, likely to include New England IPAs, Pale Ales, Helles, Roasted Ales and Fruit Beers.
Commenting on the investment in One Planet Brewery, Rupert Thompson, Hogs Back Brewery’s managing director, said: “Our investment to launch One Planet Brewing is an evolution of the ambitious sustainability agenda that has been fundamental to Hogs Back from the outset, and we are proud to have been the founding investor behind this new venture.
“It is, we believe, the first UK brewery to make the commitment to brew using only solar power generated on site.
“We are working hard on the next steps to take One Planet Brewing beers as close to zero carbon as we practically can for all the elements that we can control and with the minimum of offsetting, ideally within the next year.”
One Planet Brewing’s mission is to ‘only take out what we put in’, and its brewing capacity will be limited by the amount of solar energy it can generate.
The brewery has three 5.2 kilowatt batteries and it expects to produce more solar energy than it needs during sunnier months, the surplus of which will be sold back to the grid.
If this is the quality of One Planet Brewery’s first product, the company can look forward to a bright and confident future.
For more information visit their website