Millions of litres of beer is being tipped down the drain in Australia as huge quantities of the liquid gold goes off in kegs.
Key points:
- Millions of schooners of beer going to waste in Australia, because pubs and clubs remain closed to large numbers of drinkers
- Larger brewers such as Lion, are hoping to put beer into on-site waste water treatment plants
- Brewers in rural Australia say the cost of not being able to sell beer in kegs is significant
It is news no beer lover wants to hear, but with pubs and clubs closed due by coronavirus restrictions and most not due to reopen to large numbers any time soon, the product is “starting to come up against some of its use-by dates”.
The biggest brewers are trying to repurpose the beer by putting some of it through their wastewater treatment plants, but cannot guarantee some of the product will not be simply dumped.
Beer educator and commentator Matt Kirkegaard said he has never seen the industry in such a slump.
“One of the things that we don’t really think about a lot with beer is having a shelf life, and it’s a fairly short shelf life at that,” Mr Kirkegaard said.
“The beer that they [brewers] haven’t been able to get into consumers’ hands in other ways is probably,