Lowlander launches Winter IPA | Brewed with donated Christmas trees
Lowlanders Winter IPA
Lowlanders Winter IPA
Last winter, botanical brewer Lowlander called on all Dutch people not to throw away their Christmas tree after the holidays, but to donate to them for brewing a winter beer. The call was a great success and after picking all the fir needles by hand, the result can now be tasted. You can find Lowlanders Winter IPA in bars/restaurants and the grocery store Albert Heijn.
Last year we wrote about the Lowlander Beer initiative to brew beer from Christmas tree needles. This year another special initiative from Lowlander Beer!
“Waste to taste”
Every year Dutch people bring around 2.5 million real Christmas trees into their homes, many of which end up on the street, in the shredder or in a bonfire after New Year’s. Lowlanders Chief Botanical Officer Frederik Kampman thought: “Botanicals literally come from nature, but often the botanicals that are valuable to us are also a waste or residual stream; what waste for one, could be full of taste for Lowlander! So when I saw the streets full of discarded Christmas trees in January 2018 during a run, I got the idea to brew a beer from those needled next winter ”.
Lowlander called on all Dutch people to donate their Christmas tree and so collected more than 150 trees. All needles were picked and preserved by hand, after which they were brewed together with juniper into a fresh 5% Winter IPA. With aromas reminiscent of a winter forest walk and a hoppy citrus character, the Winter IPA is a surprisingly refreshing beer for the short, dark days.
Contribute your needle
Frederik: “In addition to having brewed a tasteful beer with these Christmas trees, we saw what this call did in terms of awareness; the impact was huge! That made us think about next Christmas: what if we try to prevent Christmas tree waste instead of recycling? ”
That is how the idea arose, together with ‘Adopteer a Christmas tree’ (a grower from his own soil who has been re-using Christmas trees for years) to grow a biological, sustainable Lowland Christmas tree forest. For every Winter IPA sold, Lowlander donates €0.05 for planting. Because the more Christmas trees adopted, the less waste so more and more Dutch people can enjoy a cozy and sustainable Christmas. Contribute your needle and buy a Lowlander Winter IPA.
About Adopt a Christmas tree
Adopt a Christmas tree is an initiative of Erwin & Kyra from organic nursery Randijk; a home-grown grower who has been reusing Christmas trees for years, and now has Christmas trees adopted for replanting in almost all of the Netherlands. With them you adopt a Christmas tree, which is replanted in January; so a Christmas tree will last for several years. With this initiative they want to make Christmas a little more sustainable every year.
All Christmas trees are organically grown; without fertilizer or chemical pesticides. On average 80% to 90% of the trees survive the replant in January due to the special cultivation method. If they are too large or can no longer be offered for adoption for other reasons, the trees are replanted for the last time in a place where they can grow through; ‘Adopt a Christmas tree’ does not throw away trees. They have grown enormously in more than ten years. Nonetheless, organically grown Christmas trees with BIO certification remain scarce and the demand exceeds supply every year.
Website: Lowlanders Beer and Adopt a Christmas tree
