Adnams East Green Carbon Neutral Ale

Adnams, the Suffolk brewer, have a great beer in their range called East Green which, they boast, is a carbon neutral ale.

Just over a year ago Adnams came out with a lighter-weight version of their classic & uniqulely-shaped traditional beer bottle. Less glass means less materials, less weight, cheaper transport costs and a smaller environmental footprint.

The Adnams brewery in Southwold also embarked upon a process of greening their business through creating a sustainable and environmentally-friendly brewhouse, and now the director has been awarded an OBE for the company's drive for corporate social responsibility.

But the East Green beer is apparently the first carbon neutral ale. With the lighter bottles and green brewhouse, East Green uses Boudicea hops which are naturally resistant to aphids, thus reducing the need for pesticides. Only a "tiny" amount of offsetting means that this is a carbon neutral beer. Nice.

And it tastes good too. East Green is light and refreshing, a pale ale, not too fussy in the taste department, and not too hoppy. 4.3% ABV. If only we could ween English lager drinkers onto East Green it could become an English classic, and Europeans & Americans might like it too. It's not the sort of beer I normally drink in the cold weather (-10°c today) but it is a decent beer and perfect for the discerning green drinker. Probably would go down well in the spring and summer months, sitting at your traditional English country pub.

You can order a pack of 8 half-litre (just under a pint) bottles of East Green over at Adnams. It's a good beer and you'll be "doing your bit" too.