Toast Ale Is Here!

 

Toast Ale, the sustainable beer brewed with surplus bread, is now available in Ireland and we’re delighted to be the brewing partners!

We use locally-sourced surplus bakery bread to replace a proportion of the malted barley.

We’ve got two styles – an IPA and American Pale Ale – in 330ml can 4-packs available exclusively in Dunnes Stores. Proceeds will be donated to charities working for a healthier food system. Over a billion tonnes of food is wasted globally each year and one million tonnes of food is discarded by Irish people and businesses every year.

These beers are the first to be brewed in Ireland using surplus bread.

They’re also pouring on tap here at Rascals HQ!

 

Toast Ale, which launched in London in 2016 and has spread internationally, emphasises local production to benefit communities and the environment.

How does it work?

Surplus bread is used to make up one-third of the grain bill, recovering valuable resources that would otherwise be wasted. There is a long history of brewing with bread, with the first records dating back to Babylonian times. In fact, beer was as much as a dietary staple as bread in 16th century Ireland, and small-scale breweries and bakeries worked together in symbiosis.

Toast is reviving this forgotten tradition with a modern twist. The surplus bread, sourced from local bakeries who have end of day surplus, is combined with barley to make up the grain bill. In the brewing process, sugars from the grains are converted to alcohol through fermentation. The only other ingredients are hops and water.

Whilst the basic ingredient is different, there is no compromise on taste. The IPA (6% alc. by vol.) has bright tropical and citrus aromas with a hint of pine, and the APA (5% alc. by vol.) is golden with a smooth finish and hints of caramel and citrus.