This summer, Finns can drink beer brewed with wild herbs, food waste and even goose faeces. The new beers are the outcome of a tie-up between microbrewery Ant Brew and the City of Lahti, as this year’s European Green Capital strives to become a waste-free circular economy by 2050.

The Finnish city of Lahti has long been known for its pioneering environmental action, and now the European Green Capital 2021 has joined forces with local microbrewery Ant Brew to create a new series of sustainable beers. The ‘Wasted Potential’ beers are brewed with wild herbs, local food waste including bread, berries and fruits – and even goose droppings.

The poop is used in a food-safe process to smoke the malt in order to create a unique stout beer. The goose droppings are gathered from local parks, where geese are causing a messy problem. The outcome is that the parks become cleaner, making them a more attractive place for picnics – some of which could soon incorporate cracking open a few cans of goose-poo beer, such is the circle of life.

  

The concept of the bizarre new range of beers is to showcase how all waste can be utilised. Lahti – the first Finnish city to win the European Green Capital Award – aims to be a completely waste-free circular-economy city by 2050, with currently 99 per cent of the city’s household waste already repurposed.

Leveraging the potential of waste

The beer that uses goose droppings in the malt smoking process will be released later in the summer. However, first to launch will be a wit-style beer inspired by the concept of a waste-free circular economy: brewed with orange peels from a local market’s juice-pressing station, as well as fruit purees that have exceeded their 'best before' date.

“This series of beers is our way to create important discussions about food waste, utilisation of waste, urban farming, and local and wild food among beer enthusiasts. Working with the Lahti Green Capital has been great. We are constantly developing ways to utilise new ingredients in brewing, and are not afraid to think outside of the box,” remarked Ant Brew’s Kari Puttonen. 

“Our environment and circular economy are important for us, and we want to discuss these topics in interesting ways,” added Saara Piispanen, Head of Communications of Lahti European Green Capital. “Together we can create solutions that are eco-friendly and represent sustainable consumption.”