OFFSET – Carbon Neutral Lager

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28 November 2019

offset tap OFFSET - Carbon Neutral LagerThis winter at LVG we are redefining Responsible Drinking by introducing OFFSET – a lager that contains CO2, uses CO2 to serve it, make it and transport it and yet has ZERO CO2. How so…?

Even our tiddly little booze-soaked brains have come around to the idea that we all need to act a bit more responsibly when it comes to this planet of ours. We’re certainly no angels (yet) but we have found a few on the way from ‘Hey, I’ve had an idea!’ to ‘OFFSET – Carbon Neutral Lager‘. Those angels include the gang at One Tree at a Time (more on them below), some inspiring environmental initiatives, a design ninja in Courtney Flannagan and a bunch of our clients who are as keen as us to share the tiny burden of getting you a great pint without it having to cost The Earth.

Let’s be clear about something here. We’re not single-handedly saving the planet with this idea but we have found a way to do a little less harm. OFFSET does just that – it offsets. For all of the CO2 that go into that lovely little glass of fizzy yellowness, we’re capturing more than the same amount and supporting some remarkable eco-projects at the same time.

The concept is simple enough – offer to split the cost of offsetting a keg of beer with our bar/restaurant clients and make sure that the €€€’s wind up in the right place. Easy? No.

How much is the cost? Where do you send the money and where do you draw the lines? Beer drags together myriad industries from energy to transport and agriculture. It uses loads of water and turns it all into wee that has to be dealt with somewhere else. It is produced in every season in spite of the fact that its ingredients are not. It sits around in steel kegs in big warehouses and waits for a giant lorry to take it to another warehouse to be moved into another lorry and sent up a mountain. Where do you even begin to calculate all of that and even if we did, would anyone believe the back-of-a-fag-packet workings of a bunch of nomadic boozers?

Well no, they wouldn’t, so undeterred we contacted local, grassroots initiative, One Tree at a Time – a not-for-profit based in the 3 Valleys ski area that helps environmentally bamboozled businesses like ours to see the woods for the trees. We’ve been watching developments at One Tree At A Time with interest. While One Tree At A Time have an overall goal of helping change behaviours and business processes aimed at reducing carbon production, they also encourage businesses to take any steps they can to be more green. Gav from One Tree said “offsetting the carbon from your lager is a great start but can’t be the end point. We’re looking forward to working with LVG more closely in the future. We want to help them in their journey to get greener and more carbon efficient” The One Tree initiative has been so successful that for now, they have had to stop taking on new partners in order to do a great job with those that are already on board. LVG has proudly taken its place in the queue for when the doors reopen.

One Tree helped us to calculate the amount that it would cost to offset each keg. Even they found it to be fiendishly difficult so in order to be hand-on-heart sure that we’re getting it right we rounded the final figure up, and up again, and then we just rounded it off at €1. Given that you can offset a flight from Geneva to London for less than €4, we think that’s not bad.

€1. €1 for a whole KEG. That’s just over zilch per glass. Niet, nada, rien, drobnostka…. Say it however you want – the beer is good, the planet is happy and it costs a tiny-weeny buck – what’s not to like?

So what happens to these €€€’s? Well we collect them up and pack them off via One Tree to to Trees for the Future where every €1 plants 10 trees but it does not stop there. They don’t just whack a shrub into some scrub for it to die a month later, they build forest gardens – sustainable agricultural projects that capture way more CO2 than our beer creates but also create food, jobs and hope for some of the world’s most vulnerable communities. That’s awesome because we only thought we’d get to mop up the CO2 but instead we do so much more.

Every journey has to start with a single step and OFFSET is ours. We’re bloody proud of it. Available in keg format only, keep your eye out for OFFSET in an après ski bar near you and if you can’t find it, ask ‘why not’?

Everybody should have the right to Drink Responsibly.

LVG

offset tap OFFSET - Carbon Neutral LagerThis winter at LVG we are redefining Responsible Drinking by introducing OFFSET - a lager that contains CO2, uses CO2 to serve it, make it and transport it and yet has ZERO CO2. How so...? Even our tiddly little booze-soaked brains have come around to the idea that we all need to act a bit more responsibly when it comes to this planet of ours. We're certainly no angels (yet) but we have found a few on the way from 'Hey, I've had an idea!' to 'OFFSET - Carbon Neutral Lager'. Those angels include the gang at One Tree at a Time (more on them below), some inspiring environmental initiatives, a design ninja in Courtney Flannagan and a bunch of our clients who are as keen as us to share the tiny burden of getting you a great pint without it having to cost The Earth. Let's be clear about something here. We're not single-handedly saving the planet with this idea but we have found a way to do a little less harm. OFFSET does just that - it offsets. For all of the CO2 that go into that lovely little glass of fizzy yellowness, we're capturing more than the same amount and supporting some remarkable eco-projects at the same time. The concept is simple enough - offer to split the cost of offsetting a keg of beer with our bar/restaurant clients and make sure that the €€€'s wind up in the right place. Easy? No. How much is the cost? Where do you send the money and where do you draw the lines? Beer drags together myriad industries from energy to transport and agriculture. It uses loads of water and turns it all into wee that has to be dealt with somewhere else. It is produced in every season in spite of the fact that its ingredients are not. It sits around in steel kegs in big warehouses and waits for a giant lorry to take it to another warehouse to be moved into another lorry and sent up a mountain. Where do you even begin to calculate all of that and even if we did, would anyone believe the back-of-a-fag-packet workings of a bunch of nomadic boozers? Well no, they wouldn't, so undeterred we contacted local, grassroots initiative, One Tree at a Time - a not-for-profit based in the 3 Valleys ski area that helps environmentally bamboozled businesses like ours to see the woods for the trees. We've been watching developments at One Tree At A Time with interest. While One Tree At A Time have an overall goal of helping change behaviours and business processes aimed at reducing carbon production, they also encourage businesses to take any steps they can to be more green. Gav from One Tree said "offsetting the carbon from your lager is a great start but can't be the end point. We're looking forward to working with LVG more closely in the future. We want to help them in their journey to get greener and more carbon efficient" The One Tree initiative has been so successful that for now, they have had to stop taking on new partners in order to do a great job with those that are already on board. LVG has proudly taken its place in the queue for when the doors reopen. One Tree helped us to calculate the amount that it would cost to offset each keg. Even they found it to be fiendishly difficult so in order to be hand-on-heart sure that we're getting it right we rounded the final figure up, and up again, and then we just rounded it off at €1. Given that you can offset a flight from Geneva to London for less than €4, we think that's not bad. €1. €1 for a whole KEG. That's just over zilch per glass. Niet, nada, rien, drobnostka.... Say it however you want - the beer is good, the planet is happy and it costs a tiny-weeny buck - what's not to like? So what happens to these €€€'s? Well we collect them up and pack them off via One Tree to to Trees for the Future where every €1 plants 10 trees but it does not stop there. They don't just whack a shrub into some scrub for it to die a month later, they build forest gardens - sustainable agricultural projects that capture way more CO2 than our beer creates but also create food, jobs and hope for some of the world's most vulnerable communities. That's awesome because we only thought we'd get to mop up the CO2 but instead we do so much more. Every journey has to start with a single step and OFFSET is ours. We're bloody proud of it. Available in keg format only, keep your eye out for OFFSET in an après ski bar near you and if you can't find it, ask 'why not'? Everybody should have the right to Drink Responsibly. LVG

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