A pie-oneering pale ale that’s a crust above the rest

A limited edition Pale Ale called Pie-oneer has been created by the team at Tapestry Brewery in South Bristol using pie crust trimmings from Pieminister. 

The idea to brew using unavoidable waste came from GENeco who have been turning Bristol’s waste products into everyday resources for over a decade.  By pushing the boundaries in terms of the end product, in this case beer, GENeco hopes to redefine what people class as waste.  For Pieminister and Tapestry, getting involved with this experiment was a natural step as both Bristol businesses continually explore new ways to raise the bar in terms of sustainability. 

GENeco have helped to remove the carbon associated with beer production by using renewable energy produced by recycling inedible food waste at their Bristol Bioresources and Energy Park. The beer was transported to Pieminister’s Bristol restaurants via their zero emission fleet.

Pie-oneer will be available at Pieminister’s Stokes Croft and Broad Quay restaurants in Bristol from the 7 January 2022.  10p from every can sold will go to Bristol-based charity Props, which supports adults with learning difficulties achieve their full potential. 

Brewed using British hops and Pieminister’s signature plant-based pastry using water-efficient methods (Tapestry recycles and reuses water within the brewery) Pie-oneer is 100% vegan and unfiltered and unfined, with a naturally hazy appearance. A light and refreshing beer with subtle undertones of golden, crisp pastry, it’s the perfect pairing for a Pieminister pie.

GENeco’s Bio-Bee has been collecting unavoidable food waste from Pieminister’s Bristol Kitchens for more than five years, for their anaerobic digestion plant nearby.  Here it’s used to produce renewable energy, sustainable transport fuel and other useful resources. To divert Pieminister’s vegan pastry off-cuts to Tapestry’s brewery instead has proved to be an innovative way to make good use of waste and demonstrate that great tasting products can be made from discards. 

Richard McCluskey, Head of Waste & Resources, GENeco, ‘Pie-oneer is all about showcasing waste as a resource in a fun and innovative way whilst raising awareness of food waste. More than anything, it represents the collaboration we believe is required between businesses and organisations with shared sustainability values to reduce their impact on the environment and help achieve net zero climate goals’

This collaboration is one of many small steps Pieminister is taking to be a truly sustainable food business. By 2025, Pieminister will reduce their carbon emissions by at least 50%, becoming carbon neutral by 2023.  And by late 2022 Pieminister wants 100% of the waste it produces to be recycled or recovered, while also reducing all the waste generated by 30%.  These are just some of the waste-based targets Pieminister has set itself to hit by 2025, as laid out in their Pies, Planet, People goals.