This year served up some curveballs and heartache but it’s not all bad, because thanks to COVID-19 a good root and a beer is all you need to be a climate hero.
It’s an almighty statement, but Good Root Beer has been officially launched at Terella Brewing on the Sunshine Coast – a Pale Ale born amid the pandemic with the help of a Food Innovation Australia Limited grant supporting innovative developments in the ‘face of national natural catastrophe or global disease outbreaks in 2019 or 2020’.
“If it wasn’t for good roots, Good Root Beer wouldn’t be such a well-rounded, quality Pale Ale – and that’s where drinking it helps to keep the planet healthy and your conscience clear,” Good Root Beer spokesperson Miriam Neilson said.
“Like all good brewery sessions, we want Good Root Beer to be part of some great conversations, and the beer itself is indeed a conversation starter,” she said.
“Good Root Beer is made from Australian barley that has Australian Sustainable Produce Certification and we’re keen for Australian consumers to learn more about regenerative farming systems, and how great management – and good roots – can vastly reduce agricultural emissions and start accumulating carbon back into the soil.”
ASP Certified products are tested free of residues, tested Non-GMO, 100 per cent Australian, and found to have vastly lower emissions than conventional farming systems.
Studies undertaken with the University of Queensland to calculate emissions from farming systems under ASP Certification showed ASP Certified wheat has more than 75 per cent fewer emissions than conventional wheat production.
The Good Root Beer company is now working with the same group of scientists to specifically calculate emissions and environmental savings on barley as well.
It’s an ethos that aligns with Sunshine Coast based brewery Terella Brewing, who became the first craft brewery in the world to have Good Root Beer on tap.
“We first came in to contact with the Good Root crew when we developed a home brew kit from their barley during lockdown,” Co-founder of Terella Brewing, Torren Read said.
“The more we learnt about the depth of the sustainability conversation they were hoping Good Root would stimulate, it was very much like music to our ears, so it made sense to take the next step and brew the pale ale on site and offer it on tap,” he said.
“Being able to pull a beer that’s literally been grown from the dirt up – good, healthy dirt that made good, healthy roots – is something worth celebrating.
“Have a Good Root and know you’ve done the environment a solid and helped support sustainable farming – we’ll cheers to that.“
