RAISE A GLASS

Crumbs, this week’s missive flies a sustainable flag.

I'm kicking off the column with a hazy pale ale made from leftover bread, swiftly followed by a couple of sips packaged in paper. The aptly named Toast Ale (£7, for a pack of four 330ml cans) is available exclusively at the Co-op.

The Co-op has collaborated with craft brewery Toast Ale to launch the Hazy Pale Ale, which is brewed with surplus bread from Co-op’s bakery suppliers.

The bread used was Farmhouse White, Farmhouse Wholemeal and White Toastie. The brewers, I’m told, use fresh sandwich bread because “there is so much readily available and the sugars are easily accessible for fermentation”.

Toast has partnered with a number of bakeries in the past (including Warburtons). Stuart Robson, Head Brewer at Toast Ale, said: “In brewing this new beer, we were able to rescue over half a tonne of surplus bread, using it to replace malted barley.”

The beer is very refreshing, with notes of passionfruit, peach, mango, orange and lychee.

Moving on, Laithwaites has launched its first wine packaged in a paper bottle, Redbrook Estate Bacchus 2021 (£18.99, or £14.99 in a mix of over 12 bottles). It's made from 94% recycled paper, with a recyclable plastic pouch inside, and has a carbon footprint six times lower than glass.

If you enjoy sauvignon blanc, you’ll like the bacchus grape. It has the same refreshing zing. The grapes for this wine grow in Purleigh, Essex. You’ll find flavours of zesty lime, vibrant grapefruit and elderflower.

And, hot off the press, Greenall's will soon launch a gin in paper packaging. Greenall’s Original London Dry Gin (RRP £15.50, 70cl) will be in paper bottle format, initially in Sainsbury’s, from October.

Which leads me on nicely to a summertime flurry of flavours with Greenall’s Tropical Fruit Flavoured Gin (£19.50 for a litre, exclusive at Tesco).

For a Greenall’s Tropical Fruit Punch, add 350ml Greenall’s Tropical Fruits Gin to a pitcher, followed by 100ml lime juice and 150ml honey water (mix honey and hot water in equal parts). Take a good bunch of mint leaves and slap to “wake up” before adding. Fill with lots of ice and top with 2000ml soda.

Jane is a member of the Circle of Wine Writers. Find her on social media and online as One Foot in the Grapes.