Lowlander Botanical Beers Launch Winter IPA Brewed With Recycled Christmas Tree Needles
Award-winning Netherlands Botanical Brewery, Lowlander Beer has launched a new Winter IPA brewed with recycled Christmas tree spruce needles as part of their zero-waste ‘From Tree to Tipple’ campaign. The Winter IPA is available to purchase as a gift pack with five bottles from Not On The High Street and will be available from other good retailers throughout December.
In December 2018, the botanical brewery launched its ‘Tree to Tipple’ campaign; collecting unwanted Christmas trees from Dutch consumers, bars and restaurants in The Netherlands, to transform them into bottles of its refreshing Winter IPA.
Chief Botanical Officer, Frederik Kampman says "Every December, about 2.5 million real trees bring Christmas spirit into our homes. By New Year, most of these end up in the chipper, on bonfires or piled at the roadside. We have found another use for them: in beer.”
Going against the grain, Lowlander made the decision to craft a light White IPA rather than the typical dark beers, common in the winter months. The addition of juniper berries alongside unconventional spruce needles lends the beer a piney aroma, reminiscent of evergreen forests with a hoppy & light citrus character.
Over six hundred kilos of needles were needed to produce the 2019 batch of Winter IPA. In order to collect enough trees, Lowlander partnered with big hitters such as Amsterdam Botanical Gardens and several restaurants, who all pledged to donate their trees after the festive period. Although only the needles were needed to brew Lowlander’s Winter IPA, the brewery re-used every piece of the donated trees in limited-edition products, including bottles of a new creation: Lowlander Botanical Brut, a limited-edition sparkling beer made with spruce and Champagne inspired Riesling yeast, available in the UK from 2020.
