Intervista a… Crumbs!
Secondo l’editto della purezza del 1516 (Reinheitsgebot), la birra può essere prodotta soltanto con 4 ingredienti: l’acqua, il malto, il luppolo ed il lievito.
Negli anni però, come è normale che sia, il mondo della birra si è evoluto ed ha incontrato gusti, costumi ed esigenze diverse, mettendo a confronto due grandi fazioni, divise tra tradizionalisti ed innovatori.
Ed è proprio in un paese come la Svezia, che dal punto di vista brassicolo è molto all’avanguardia e che ha molto a cuore la sostenibilità ambientale, che nasce il progetto di cui vi parleremo oggi: Crumbs!
La parola “Crumbs” significa “Briciole” e come potrete intuire sia dal nome che dalle foto, all’interno non troviamo soltanto i soliti 4 ingredienti. L’intruso, nonchè protagonista, è il pane!
Non è solo un ingrediente scelto per arricchire una ricetta, ma un metodo per evitare che gli sprechi di cibo gravino sul mondo. Se considerate che soltanto in Svezia vengono gettate quasi 200 tonnellate di pane al giorno, vengono i brividi!
Vogliamo pertanto raccontarvi di un progetto che ridona vita al pane, trasformandolo in qualcosa che noi tutti amiamo: la birra!
Per capirne di più abbiamo intervistato uno dei tre fondatori di questo Beer firm, Matthew Squire (Head of Branding e Beer Lover), che ci ha parlato del suo progetto e delle sue ambizioni.
Hi Matthew, how and when was your project born?
Crumbs has been an idea for many months but only came into real existence at the beginning of 2020. A couple of the founders are very active within the world of sustainability and bread waste is one of the topics high on their list. Once we started to actually look into the numbers and how much bread waste there actually is, we decided to try to do something about it.
What is the origin of your beer firm name and how would you describe it?
We had many different names on the list, two of us are English and the other a Swede but it was important that we chose a name that not only represented the process and reflected the idea of the business, but also something that can be translated and easily understood, and communicated on a level larger than just Sweden.
Crumbs is a name that one immediately relates to left over bread, or the pieces of bread that are usually forgotten about. We are here if you like to ‘pick up the crumbs’, to take care of the unwanted. It also has a lovely idea behind it of following the crumbs. The idea of Hansel and Gretel came up in conversation, how they leave crumbs to find their way home (the birds ate them all up and they got lost!) but still, maybe you need to get lost to find yourself. We use crumbs to create a trail that we want people to follow and join us in our mission.
Your mission is to reduce the waste of bread. What quantity and how is bread used in production?
We arn’t claiming that we can totally eradicate bread waste. When you take into consideration that 72 slices of bread are thrown away every second here in Sweden, that’s over 200 tonnes every day, just here in Sweden, so imagine what it is world wide. That’s why we have our tagline, ‘En smula i taget’ (‘One crumb at a time’).
The amount of bread you can use in a beer actually changes depending on the bread. For our two beers we have replaced 30% of the grain count for artisan bread. It’s actually the salt in the bread that causes a few problems, a lot of bread contains a lot of salt and this can effect the taste of the beer. So you have to be careful when trying to balance the flavours. Something like a german Gose, which is typically salty would be perfect fo upping the bread amounts, but for a traditional lager or light ale you have to be a little more selective.
You currently produce two kind of beers, one of which is alcohol free. Can you describe them?
Thats right, both of the beers are our “Loafy lager”. One 3,5% and the other a 0.5%. For our first beers it was important that we created a beer that would be generally accepted by our target audience. We are in the testing stage right now and so it was important that we introduced ourselves as a brand that is focused on the bread waste, rather than introducing another trendy beer onto the market.
Our research also told us that here in Sweden the low alcoholic beers, and even non-alcoholic beers are making quite an impact right now. Low alcohol beers are quite a new thing to Sweden and so its a super interesting time in the fact that you are getting all these amazing Swedish breweries experimenting with low alcoholic beers and trying to extract as much flavour as they can from them.
And one last thing is that as I mention, its test stage right now and so for us it was a lot easier to approach food stores rather than try to get our beer sold in the off licences here (Systembolaget). Basically, long story short, in Sweden we have to buy alcoholic beverages that is over 3.5% from Systembolaget, anything 3.5% or below we can purchase from food stores and cafes so it made sense to produce these beers.
With regards to the taste, they are based on a traditional lager but we upped the hop count a little on the boiling stage to give it a bit more of a citrus refreshing taste, and something a little more unique than your typical lager, one could say that all beer has a bready taste to it, but there is a slight tone to roasted bread to both the beers. We have had some great feedback from customers who love the taste, especially with regards to the alcohol free. Again it was about creating a first beer that cemented ourselves in the market, nothing too whacky but something a little different.
You are a beer firm. Who takes care of the production?
Exactly, we are a beer firm, we don’t claim to be a brewery although to be honest, isn’t it everyones dream to own a brewery?! So you never know ha ha!
As I mentioned earlier we work with local breweries. For our Loafy Lager we worked with Värmdö brewery (A stockholm based brewery) and a local bakery. They are renowned for their great tasting beers. I guess you would describe them as quite a traditional brewery which is one of the reasons we chose them for our first beer. We knew that we would be able to produce a great beer with them and a beer that a lot of people would accept by just hearing the mention of their name.
The aim is to work with many breweries and bakeries from all over Sweden, implementing our concept all over. We are not limiting ourselves to one brewery per city or region either. In theory the more breweries we can get on board the more waste we can reduce so everyones a winner.
The concept is one that allows each brewery to be very hands on, creating their own recipes, we won’t be dictating that. It’s important that they feel comfortable and happy in the beers they are producing.
Why should a beer consumer choose your beers?
As much as our beers are about great taste, we strongly believe its the concept and the idea behind the beers that gives consumers a reason for choosing it. For instance if we were offered 2 beers, of equal quality and equal taste, but one was made with unused bread then we know which one we would choose.
Our target audience follows the same thoughts, and its this conscious decision that we are seeing on the increase. A decision that a lot of people are making about not only beer but a lot of things, clothes, cars, food. People are looking behind the reasons for why a product exists and making choices based on that.
We want our beer to be a conversation starter. Get people talking about bread waste, the problems surrounding it and what better way to do that, than round a table with a load of friends and likeminded people and share a few beers… provided by Crumbs of course.
What plans do you have in the near future? Will you produce other beer styles?:
We have loads of plans in the pipeline. But when it comes to beer, and the near future, the idea is to firstly see how this first beer does, how the customers take to the concept and what they think about the whole thing. Are they willing to make that decision in choosing a beer that does that little but more, over their regular beer.
As I mentioned earlier the idea is to go National, we don’t see any problem in brewing beers of every style. And the bread itself lends itself towards maybe a few new styles. Sweden are a nation of bread eaters and the amounts of different styles there are here makes it a very exciting time for a brand working with bread beer. It’s going to be a very exciting time, to see what breweries can come up with. I’ve personally got a couple of experiments bubbling away in my shed, so we will see.
En smula i taget!
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Ringraziamo Matthew per la grandissima disponibilità ed il prezioso tempo a noi dedicato. Questa per noi è stata la prima intervista extra-italiana e sicuramente continueremo a raccontarvi le storie delle persone che nel mondo con i loro progetti rendono grande la birra.
Per saperne di più scriveteci un commento a questo articolo o contattateci tramite il nostro form Contatti, saremo lieti di mettervi in contatto con loro.
Seguite Crumbs su Instagram https://www.instagram.com/crumbs.beer/ per tutte le novità e visitate il loro sito per maggiori informazioni sul loro progetto https://www.crumbs.beer/
Adjö!
