A socially distanced pint with Crumbs Brewing
12/11/2020
Have you heard of Crumbs Brewing? The brand make beer using leftover artisan loaves from their local bakery, Chalk Hills in Reigate, Surrey. And they’re absolutely delicious, as well as food-waste-fighting.
Each beer is made with a different type of bread. So, the style of the beer reflects the character of the delicious bread that makes it. From a Sourdough Pale Ale to the Bloomin’ Amber Lager brewed using Bloomer loaves and inspired by a Viennese lager recipe.
Sitting down and getting to know the story behind the brands is, for us, what it’s all about. After all, it’s people and our actions that change the world. So, we couldn’t resist sitting down for a (socially distanced) pint with one of the co-founders of Crumbs Brewing, Morgan Arnell, to find out more.
You’re a bit of a serial entrepreneur, what possessed you to start a consumer brand having worked in consulting and research so long?
I think my wife and I were both driven by a desire to do something that positively impacted and contributed to our local community.
Like a lot of areas there is a great ‘foodie’ focus in Surrey as well as a growing desire to support local, more ethical enterprises. We wanted to be part of and contribute to that.
Helping our local baker repurpose their food waste and making some unique beers that add something new and interesting to the beer market was a great place to start.
It seems to us that for every generation (except perhaps Gen-Zers?) there’s a “wake-up moment” when it comes to the planet and sustainability. When do you think that wake-up call was for you and why?
There are so many environmental issues that feel so ‘big’ it is hard to understand how you as an individual can make a difference.
For us the issue of waste was the one that shocked us but is also one that you can personally do something about.
Waste also has so many forms, from wasted food to plastic waste to energy waste there are so many things an individual can do to make a tangible difference.
Why was it important to you to start a social enterprise as opposed to any other kind of business?
Both Elaine and I spent most of our careers working in or for large corporates who talk a great deal about social responsibility but ultimately are driven by a very single-minded desire to create profit.
Quite frankly, we became disillusioned and frustrated when so many initiatives that were clearly the right thing to do ended up being binned because they weren’t the most profitable thing to do in the short term.
We were keen to ensure that whatever we created together had a purpose at its heart and gave us the freedom to use that brand to support things we are passionate about.
Why beer? And how did you come to realise you could use surplus bread to brew it?
As well as being an avid consumer of beer I also had spent some time working in the drinks business. Categories like beer were not only growing but also included so much interesting innovation so I knew thats where I wanted to focus.
I’d heard about the historic links between brewing and baking and seen some of the interesting stuff the Brussels Beer Project were up to. We thought using bread in the brewing process not only gave an opportunity to do something with a food-waste-fighting purpose at its heart but also explore what adding bread to the brew actually does to change the flavours and characteristic of a beer.
Hence all the beers we’ve developed so far have treated the bread as an important contributor of flavour – each beer is only brewed with one type of loaf and the style of the beer reflects the style of the loaf that makes it.
We then heard what the amazing team at Toast were up to so we reached out to them to check they were OK with us exploring a similar path and they were very supportive – the more people doing good things to fight food waste the better!
You’re also using leftover coffee grounds from Union to create your Rye Coffee Porter. Are there any other would-be food waste products you’re thinking to try next?
Pre-order the Crumbs Brewing Rye Coffee Porter for delivery the week of 14th DecWe have a long long list of ideas for things we could do. The world of bread and baking has a lot of untapped opportunity.
Once we get this covid crisis out the way we have a number of new breads on our hit list for testing new beers.
Food waste obviously stretches much further than bread – fruit and veg are another big contributor so on our hit list to explore the role they could play in brewing or indeed distilling.
As a serial entrepreneur and founders on a mission, you’ve no doubt got a full plate! How do you ensure you’re practising self-care?
Its so true that running your own business – and even more so, running that business with your other half – blurs the lines between work, home life and downtime. It helps when you are doing something you are passionate about and enjoy doing but you still need to make time to turn off.
Our kids are actually a great alarm bell when things are becoming unbalanced. One of the reasons we set up our own business was to spend more time with our young family and not spend it commuting or in a soulless office.
But in the first year of launch we were working all week and attending beer festivals or markets every weekend – we were rarely together as a family.
When our kids pointed out we were spending more time selling beer than being with them we knew it had to change and we actually cut the number of festivals we attend in half.
As we’re now in another lockdown here in the UK, lots of people are thinking about bringing the pub home. Short of having a shebeen or makeshift pub in the garden shed, how do you create a pub-at-home vibe?
One of the things I love about the beer category is the sheer variety of brands and styles out there, it can be frustrating that so many pubs are now owned by chains or the bigger breweries and as a result all have the same limited selection of beers.
I think there is an opportunity to create an even better vibe in your ‘pub at home’ by making the effort to really explore some brands and beers you’ve never tried before.
There are so many ways to buy online now either direct from breweries or via companies like the Social Supermarket that curate offerings that you wouldn’t find anywhere else.
Take advantage of the current lockdown to support those businesses and hopefully discover things you never would have.
Finally, which other social enterprise do you rate and want to shout about?
We can’t not give a huge shout out to the team at Toast – we are always blown away by what they’ve created, the scale at which they operate and the ethics they’ve maintained.
They are leading the charge to make ‘purpose driven brands’ a significant part of the beer category and it’s always an honour to be alongside them in things like the Social Supermarket hampers.
Interested to taste-test the Crumbs Brewing range? Explore their beers here.
