Nagano Upcycle Food launches new upcycled beer in 2nd installment

The “Nagano Upcycle Food” project has launched a new product, “Shinto Goen Ale,” an upcycled beer made from food scraps generated during the food manufacturing process. Sales began on February 25th.

The “Nagano Upcycle Food” project is part of ICS-net’s efforts to promote the reuse of unused materials. In the second phase of the project, they focus on utilizing “scraps.” This follows their first creation, which was six types of canned foods made from Shinshu Fukumi chicken liver and hearts.

“Scraps” refer to the excess cut ends, cracks, and chips that are produced when food materials are cut into shape. Many of these scraps are either discarded during the manufacturing process or reused as animal feed. However, in this case, the scraps have been repurposed to create a new product.

ICS-net has produced the craft beer using wafer scraps, which are supplied by Takachiho Co., Ltd. The company, based in Nagano City, Nagano Prefecture, has a long history of 74 years and is engaged in the development and wholesale of tourist souvenirs, as well as store facility management. Beer the First Co., Ltd. was responsible for the manufacturing of the beer. The company specializes in producing craft beer using discarded food to create a society where the natural environment and cultural lifestyle can be better circulated through craft beer.

Takachiho generates 10 kg of wafer scraps per day, which translates to approximately 2.4 tons per year. Currently, the scraps are sold to a local processing company as a biomass raw material. However, there was an issue where offcuts containing chocolate could not be used for feed and secondary products. ICS-net saw beer production as an ideal way to upcycle these scraps containing carbohydrates as nutrients. The raw materials for wafers are carbohydrates such as flour and sugar, which match the requirements for beer production.

During the manufacturing process, hot water is added to the pulverized wafers to saccharify and boil. Yeast is then added during cooling to ferment the mixture. After maturing in storage tanks, the beer is ready in about six weeks.

The new beer, “Shinto Goen Ale,” replaces 10% of the barley used in beer production with wafers. By focusing on reducing food waste, an eco-friendly craft beer has been created.

This new upcycled beer is available for purchase at Kukuya Shunsui, Karuizawa Shunsui, and Natural Hot Spring Mamejima Yuttari-en.

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