Case study: Small Beer
Hands-on tour and workshop at Small Beer, a B-Corp brewery to learn lessons in transformation.
About Small Beer
Small Beer is a South-London brewery who brought back lower alcohol beer from pre-Victorian times when it was safer to drink than water. Since clean water became available to all, the production of small beer stopped – until now.
A learning site for transformative skills
As a B-Corp we knew Small Beer had a lot to share in terms of meeting environmental standards and innovating for sustainability. We were impressed by their flagship (and unique) dry floor policy which helped them saved them 8 million litres of water to date.
We paid them a visit to observe the climate action skills they practice and map them against our curriculum. Here’s what we found out and what we invited one of our first cohorts of learners to learn from, via a set of learning activities to observe and build skills in practice.
Our prototype climate action curriculum, created in partnership with the Soil Association, was structured around building knowledge, understanding and skills in three areas essential to climate action: creativity, collaboration and complexity. This was brilliantly brought to life on site at Small Beer.
Creativity in practice
Learning from the past
A slower brewing process allows lower ABV to happen naturally (a 6-week process at Small Beer vs an industry standard of 4-6 days). Small Beer are innovating for sustainability by looking back to traditional knowledge and heritage.
Dry floor policy
The best business decisions are often the best climate decisions. Small Beer demonstrates a challenger mindset by designing and implementing equipment that uses 80% less water than the industry standard.
Circular economy
We saw how important it is to be resourceful and recognise the value in waste materials. At Small Beer, spent grain is sent to farmers as animal feed, and separating bags, tags, and string reflects a strong commitment to a culture of resourcefulness.
Flexible space (and team roles)
Making the most of a small industrial site in an urban setting, the space is adapted for both a tap room and a canning line. The team takes an ‘all hands’ approach when needed, even pitching in to hand-label cans.
Resourcefulness for circular operations
Collaboration in practice
Suppliers
Finding suppliers with shared values who meet high ethical standards. Hops and malt are sourced from a UK, 100% organic and regenerative farm that vets their customers.
Collaborating with customers
Responding to feedback from customers to include cans as more widely recycled. Manual engagement with subscribers to pilot new cans.
Competitors
Collaborating with other businesses who have a canning line in-house. Collaborating with other B-Corps to share learning and help customers make better purchasing decisions.
Acting for change alongside others
Complexity in practice
Recovered heat and power
We observed the complexity of navigating and reducing scope 3 emissions. Renewable energy is sourced from wind, water and solar. Surplus heat from the brewing process is used to heat the brewery.
Packaging
There’s no simple answer to what packaging is most sustainable – it involves factors like ethically sourcing materials or weight for transportation. Small Beer embraces the complexity of the system by making the best choices with the information available and adapting as new information emerge.
Industry standards
The challenge of still needing to use plastic wrap when transporting pallets brought to light the need for coordinated action across the industry to develop viable alternatives.
