EP16: Reducing Waste and Eating Beer with Dan Kurzrock

Dan grew up on the Bay Area Peninsula, and graduated from UCLA with a degree in Economics and a Masters in Sustainable Business from Presidio Graduate School. Dan realized a passion for entrepreneurship early. ReGrained is telling an exciting environmental story, at a time when the food industry is grappling with a mountain of food waste. That's where Regrained steps in. They use the spent grain leftover after the beer development process and repurpose it for food products. The left over spent grain is like an oatmeal and of course it's terribly wasteful to throw food out. Grain is a key ingredient in beer. Typically barley, though sometimes rye or oats. To make beer, the grain gets cracked to expose the starches. It is then steeped in warm water, where the starches start to break down into simple sugars, which become alcohol. This process leaves brewers with huge amounts of leftover grain. “Many of the ingredients used to brew beer do not end up in your glass. That’s not to say all brewers are wasteful. Many, especially within the craft industry, are excellent environmental stewards with a strong dedication to sustainability. However, even the most conscientious brewer can’t help but generate massive quantities of leftover spent grain. The reality is that it takes a lot of barley to produce beer, America’s favorite suds. In the United States alone, approximately 200 million barrels of beer are consumed each year, with an average of 6 billion pounds of grain used by the brewing industry.” ~Regrained "As consumers, we get to decide what matters most through what we choose to buy. Our mantra is simple: “Brew Good. Bake Good. Do Good.” We invite you to join us in refusing to settle for anything less. Have your beer…and eat it too!" ~Dan Kurzock & Jordan Schwartz