After the holidays a lot of Christmas trees end up on the street. But Lowlander wants to recycle them to make new batches of their Winter I.P.A. So hand in your Christmas tree this Friday, January 7th at Boudewijn at the Nieuwe Binnenweg and get a beer in return! Sign up here.
Lowlander brews beer with botanicals like herbs, exotic spices and fruit. They use the tips and needles of the spruces to make their Winter I.P.A. The hand-picked and preserved needles give Winter I.P.A. aromas reminiscent of a winter forest walk. The beer has a hoppy citrus character, is surprisingly refreshing and brightens up the dark days. By experimenting with such a versatile ingredient as spruce needles and combining it with juniper, Lowlander managed to capture the taste of winter.
Lowlander Treecycle programme
The idea to do something with discarded Christmas trees started in January 2018. During a New Year’s walk through Amsterdam, Lowlander founder Frederik Kampman saw streets filled with Christmas trees. More than 2.5 million Christmas trees are thrown away every year after the holidays. The plan to brew beer with them was born. One simple call on social media asking for used Christmas trees led to thousands of applications and 150 collections, and the Treecycle programme was born.
The Treecycle programme fits in perfectly with the Lowlander goal of being climate-positive by 2030. Their belief is that a little Dutch ingenuity combined with the power of nature creates endless possibilities. Lowlander’s Chief Botanical Officer and owner Frederik Kampman explains: “Although we know that we cannot solve the ‘waste’ problem on our own, as a botanical brewer we like to take our responsibility in creating the necessary awareness. By cooking and brewing with discarded Christmas trees, we can actually show and taste how much flavour can be obtained from this natural residual flow. In this way, we make ‘taste’ of ‘waste’ together.”
