St Austell Brewery and Toast Brewing Release Beer Made with Surplus Bread

St Austell Brewery launches eco-friendly ale made with surplus breadcrumb

St Austell Brewery has teamed up with Toast Brewing to create a limited-edition beer brewed with leftover breadcrumb. Called Breakfast Club, the new 4.5% golden ale is part of St Austell Brewery’s 2025 cask ale line-up and is now pouring across pubs in the South West and beyond.

This marks the third time the two breweries have joined forces, with previous collaborations dating back to 2016 and a more recent brew in 2023 for No Mow May.

Made with British hops – and unused sandwich crusts

Breakfast Club is brewed with British Harlequin and Jester hops and includes surplus breadcrumb sourced by Toast from sandwich manufacturers across the UK. The crumb replaces some of the barley traditionally used in beer-making, helping to reduce waste and lower the beer’s carbon footprint.

Each pint contains the equivalent of a quarter of a slice of bread.

Georgina Young, Brewing Director at St Austell Brewery, said:

“Our collab with Toast in 2023 was created in our small batch brew space, but this time we’ve gone big on our main 30,000-litre kit. Fresh, fruity and golden, this ale is crafted using British Harlequin and Jester hops, laid over a light base of local Maris Otter barley and surplus breadcrumb supplied by Toast – because brewing can taste good and do good.”

Saving bread, one pint at a time

Toast Brewing has been turning surplus bread into beer since 2016. According to the brewery, they’ve saved so many slices of bread that if stacked, they’d reach more than five times the height of Mount Everest.

Stuart Robson, Head Brewer at Toast, joined the brew day in St Austell and said:

“It was amazing to join Georgina and the team to create Breakfast Club in the main brewhouse. This beer gives us a chance to scale up our impact by reaching people in pubs across the UK.

“The bread has come from sandwich manufacturers, where crusts are unused. This crumb provides carbohydrates and sugars that can replace some of those normally produced from barley or wheat in the brewing process. It reduces the beer’s carbon footprint, and this particular brew has saved around 350 loaves of bread from being wasted.”

Where to find it

Breakfast Club will be available throughout the year in a selection of St Austell Brewery’s 45 managed pubs across the South West. It will also be on offer in the brewery’s leased and tenanted estate across the region, and in independent pubs around the UK.

Part of a bigger picture

This new beer release comes in the same year that St Austell Brewery unveiled its first major rebrand in over 70 years. The brewery also launched its new sustainability plan, Crafting a Brighter Future. You can read more about that approach here.