Beers with a Conscience

Some friends were very kind and brought round for us a selection box of Litton Ale Brewery's 'Ales of the Dales'. They are brewed at the Queens Arms pub, Litton, which is near Skipton in North Yorkshire and they've been brewing since 2003. Lovely beers - as you can see we've got two left to drink! All are bottle conditioned and are light-bodied, easy going and nicely hoppy.

What's interesting about them is that they are bottled in re-used beer bottles as part of a social enterprise called 'REcap'. I can't for the life of me find any information on this project on the web, so I'm reliant on the brief info on the label hung round the neck of each bottle. The social enterprise bit comes in partly from their eco-credentials in re-using bottles and also from a stated desire to be involved in regeneration, particularly "providing retraining and real jobs for people with disabilities." It seems like an interesting scheme - if a little under-the-radar! It was a bit disconcerting to drink a nice beer from a bottle with 'Carlsberg' written on it (the 'Dark Star' in a green bottle). The scheme reminded me a little of a brewery in The Netherlands called 'De Prael', which provides rehabilitative employment for people with mental health issues. And which, not least, also brews very enjoyable beers. For De Prael, visit this beer site and scroll down or search.