Food For Thought Rye Lager to debut at local event on September 13th as part of Hunger Action Month to raise awareness on food rescue
New York, NY – Food Bank For New York City, the city’s largest hunger relief organization, has partnered with local Brooklyn businesses, Threes Brewing and Runner and Stone to craft a new rye lager beer called Food For Thought, from rescued unused bread.
Food For Thought will have a public debut at a tasting event on September 13, 2022 at Threes Brewing in Brooklyn (333 Douglass Street. Tickets sold here) and will be available for purchase and on tap throughout all of Threes Brewing locations in New York until supplies last. Event attendees will also be able to taste bites from the following chefs and restaurants The Meat Hook, Poppy’s Brooklyn, Der Pioneer and, Bacàn and, Food Bank’s very own chef Sheri Jefferson. As part of the partnership with the brewery, a portion of each pint sold will be donated to Food Bank For New York City to support the organization’s mission.
“Food Bank For New York City is proud to have been able to bring together two local Brooklyn businesses in an effort to innovatively save food that would have otherwise been wasted and craft something delicious and new from it,” said Matthew Honeycutt, Chief Development Officer of Food Bank For New York City. “Threes Brewing and Runner and Stone’s partnership has allowed us to continue working towards our mission of providing New Yorkers with more than food and helping to repurpose a food product that will support our mission to feed more New Yorkers in need.”
“Food Bank For New York City is doing incredibly important work and Food For Thought is simply our way of shining a spotlight on it,” said Jared Cohen, CEO of Threes Brewing. “We’re honored to have the opportunity to help raise awareness of food waste during Hunger Action Month. The bread we brewed was baked just a stone’s throw away from our flagship brewery in Brooklyn. It doesn’t get more local than that. We’re excited for all of you to try it.”
“We’re a micro bakery with very strong ties to the local and regional farm economy. We have an intense respect for, and knowledge of, the ingredients we use to craft our products; be it the local, stone milled flour we use or the seasonal local fruit from which we make our jams and fillings,” said Peter Endriss, Co-Owner and Head Baker of Runner and Stone. “With this respect comes a responsibility to eliminate waste because we truly know what goes into not only producing the ingredients we use, but the making of our baked goods. We’re thrilled to know that a whole bunch of extra baguettes, that would have otherwise been compost, were able to be upcycled and reincarnated by Three’s Brewing!”
According to New York State’s Department of Sanitation, over 30 percent of waste in New York City is made up of food waste at the same time that 1.6 million New Yorkers are facing food insecurity. In response, Food Bank For New York City works with local grocery stores, restaurants, bakeries, and farms to rescue an average of 1 million pounds of food a month to redistribute to New Yorkers in need. In 2021, Food Bank rescued over 11 million pounds of fresh, nutritious food which was then distributed to local food pantries and soup kitchens across the five boroughs. Also last year the hunger fighting organization provided over 121 million free meals to New Yorkers in need, approximately 28 percent of them in Brooklyn.
One of the most difficult food items to rescue is bread. Bread and baked goods typically have a short shelf life, which means there’s only a small window in which these food items can be redistributed in their normal state. The brewing process used by Threes Brewing to craft Food For Thought included traditional baguette bread rescued from local bakery Runner and Stone, in addition to other ingredients.
Nutritious, safe and unused food products can be rescued to help feed those in need instead of feeding compost. The partnership between Threes Brewing, Runner and Stone and Food Bank For New York City will help feed not only those who are food insecure within the Brooklyn community but all New Yorkers throughout the five boroughs.
To purchase tickets for the beer tasting event, please visit www.foodbanknyc.org/brewingpartnership. To learn more about this partnership and Food Bank For NYC, visit foodbanknyc.org
About Food Bank For New York City
Food Bank For New York City is the largest hunger relief organization of the city fighting food insecurity on the ground since 1983. By partnering with over 800 soup kitchens, food pantries, and campus partners across the five boroughs, Food Bank is able to make a direct impact in the communities that need it most, providing some 1.4 billion meals to New Yorkers since its founding. But food alone can’t solve hunger. That’s why Food Bank employs a two-prong approach of Community Nourishment programming (to provide immediate and reliable access to food today) with Economic Empowerment programming (to equip people with the tools they need to achieve food security into tomorrow and beyond). All of these services – from grab-and-go pantry bags to hot meals, tax filing assistance, SNAP enrollment, nutrition education, and financial empowerment workshops – are free and available to anyone who needs them. To learn more about Food Bank’s mission to dignify, nourish, and empower ALL New Yorkers facing food insecurity, visit foodbanknyc.org.
About Threes Brewing
Threes Brewing is a Brooklyn-based brewery known for crafting approachable beers that balance simplicity and complexity, with a focus on lagers, hop-forward American ales, and mixed culture beers. Creativity and respect for the craft of brewing are among our guiding principles. We take pride in introducing (or reintroducing) traditional styles to a new audience by applying a modern spin.
Creativity and respect for the craft of brewing are among our guiding principles. We’ve received several awards from the New York State Craft Beer Competition, including two Best Overall Beer awards, and have been featured in The New Yorker, Bon Appetit, and The Infatuation.
We have five locations throughout New York, including our flagship brewery in Gowanus, Brooklyn, a sister bar and event space in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, a seasonal bar on Governors Island in the New York Harbor, and beer shops in Huntington, Long Island and in the newly renovated Moynihan Train Hall in Midtown Manhattan.
Find our beer in over 700 bars, restaurants, and shops across New York State. We proudly deliver beer fresh from our brewery to the NY Metro Area and ship directly to 30+ states.
About Runner and Stone
Runner & Stone was co-founded in December 2012 by Chef Chris Pizzulli and Head Baker Peter Endriss. Runner & Stone services the Gowanus neighborhood as a wholesale & retail bakery, restaurant and bar. We bake all of our bread and pastries in house, including naturally leavened breads and viennoisseries, using local whole grain flours, dairy and fruit. Our lunch consists of seasonal salads, soups and sandwiches for dine-in or take-away and features house-prepared meats and fish on our signature breads. Dinner focuses on seasonal vegetables and meats and includes a full range of house-made fresh pastas. Runner & Stone also has a full bar, serving a diverse list of wines, beer and specialty cocktails. At Runner & Stone, we believe that cooking and eating are social, communal activities that connect people to one another, and that food service is not only the act of preparing and presenting ingredients for consumption, but rather one part of an experience that should make sense seasonally, geographically, environmentally and emotionally. To that end, we strive every day to create an atmosphere that is approachable and convivial, preparing everything we make – from our breads and pastries to our appetizers and entrees – with tradition, technique and expertise and featuring local ingredients that are grown, produced, packaged and transported in a responsible manner.
Media Contact:
Madeline Diaz, mdiaz@foodbanknyc.org