To make the best out of any crisis could be learnt from Japan. The country was going to host Olympic Games in 2020 and was expecting over 40 million tourists to attend the event but now they have been put on hold due to the ongoing Corona crisis across the world. This setback gave the third largest economy another blow as it was already struggling with slowdown in economic sector. The country had spent millions of dollars in organizing, marketing and advertising the Olympics in Tokyo, hence, the pause badly affected the economy.

One major sector that needs to be brought into notice is the bars & restaurants. The beer consumption in Japan fell down by approx. 26% in the year 2020, thereby giving an economic setback to the sector. The beer in many breweries was rotting and spoiling as the internal consumption as well as exports had declined. They could not keep beer in surplus anymore for it to rot. Thus, one company in Japan came up with a great solution- they decided to turn the unsold beer into another alcoholic beverage to save it from spoiling.

1. In April, 2020,Kiuchi Brewerylaunched the 'Save Beer Spirits' campaign at its Tokyo distillery where they offered other local breweries and bars to approach them for turning their unsold beer into a beverage without an expiration date- Gin. They asked for 20 litres of unused beer from the bars to brew them as gin. In return of 100 litres of beer it brewed 8 of litres of Gin. It then sends back the gin as a standard 750ml bottle or as a gin cocktail, in cans or kegs. The process of converting beer into gin has been shown below:-

Adding more to this, the brewery distills this beverage free-of-cost with the bars only having to pay delivery charges. 
 

2. Another store by the name of The Ethical Spirits & Co has been adopting the same sustainable spirit. They say that the beer-based gin initiatives are growing into a rapidly emerging market. They also have combined some new recipes for the process of brewing the beer into gin.

'If you can essentially use unused or remaining ingredients to create something special and something premium, that's great. It follows with our vision of trying to achieve a sustainable, circular economy,' says an owner of a brewery.

In this way, they are turning a beverage with 4-6 month shelf life into a product with no expiry. This sustainable approach of a sector in Japan may prove to bring a changing impact on other sectors of the world also, as there have been many sectors which have been shook by the internal and external depreciation in consumption for so long. If they can learn to turn an adversity into an opportunity then it would be beneficial for everyone.

Also read: Swaps for Sustainability.