BY: CAROLINE ROLF
Did you know that six-pack of cheap beer you sucked back last weekend created about a pound of waste in the making? After barley or other grains are soaked in breweries, the liquid is extracted to create beer and the used grains are discarded. Some companies bring the old product to local farms, which use it as feed for their animals while others are able to compost the spent grains. However, for some smaller breweries in urban areas, there are no pigs to feed and no compost system able to take such a massive amount of product. What would be a good solution for all these leftovers?
Dan Kurzrock and Jordan Schwartz found one. In 2012, they launched the company ReGrained and began turning used grains into new snack bars. Their vision is to help the urban ecosystem go further with less by creating ways for beer grain to go far beyond the brewery without sacrificing nutrition, taste and sustainability.
Photo: ReGrained / Facebook
Although referred to as “spent,” Kurzrock and Schwartz know that beer grain is far from bad when it leaves the brewers. As much sugar as possible is extracted from the grain for beer but there is still plenty of plant protein and dietary fiber left in the grain. So while one may see this food as used up, it has actually become healthier—practically a super food! Grains are an important part of our diet and high quality beer grain is full of potential.
Photo: ReGrained / Facebook
So far, the ReGrained’s snack bars are being sold at local grocery stores around the Bay Area of San Francisco, California and available on their website. This may seem like a small start, but this company is introducing a sustainable source of nutrition into our food system and saving 85 per cent of the total by-products from the brewing process.
“It’s been really nice working with ReGrained to see an actual, viable product from something we were essentially throwing away,” says the head brewer of Triple Voodoo Brewery in this video. The co-founders want to expand their product line to cookies, cereals and chips in the future. To answer the question that’s on your mind, sorry no, you won’t catch a buzz off the Honey Almond IPA Bar or the Coffee Chocolate Stout Bar.