Surplus curry from industrial vats finds new life in Yamagata craft beer

In collaboration with craft brewery Brewlab.108, frozen food manufacturer Nichirei Foods Inc. has luanched the beverage “#2101 Part2 Beef Curry～Beyond upcycle! Never before !!～”, brewed using off-specification commercial curry sauce recovered from its production lines.

During the production of Nichirei’s commercial-grade “Restaurant Use Beef Curry”, portions of sauce stick to the interior sides of industrial cooking kettles. Although the sauce adheres to all quality and safety benchmarks, standard filling equipment cannot transfer it into pouches, leaving it discarded as processing loss. This is an example of how food waste can come from mechanical limits rather than spoiled ingredients. The manufacturer reclaims this edible resource, with the technicians gathering the remaining curry, processing it into a paste, and delivering it to the brewery.

Blending a savoury sauce containing spices and fats into beer presents distinct brewing hurdles in brewing. Introducing culinary ingredients prior to boiling or fermentation can inhibit yeast development or block volatile spice aromas. Brewlab.108 resolved this by adding the processed curry paste to the pale ale after the primary fermentation stage concluded. The resulting 330ml bottled ale, brewed to an alcohol by volume of 5%, pairs standard malt and hops with curry paste produced in Tendo City, dates, and select culinary spices.

The beer’s launch is the fourth upcycled food project by Nichirei Foods and its second collaborative brew with Brewlab.108. Situated in Tendo City, Brewlab.108 focuses on regional agriculture, working towards a repertoire of 108 original recipes brewed with local ingredients. The project coincided with the 80th anniversary of the Nichirei Group, aligning with its corporate target to cut factory-level food waste across domestic operations.