Last year, Goose Island Brewing received funding from the city of Chicago and commissioned the Chicago Manufacturing Center to perform an analysis of the carbon footprint of one of its kegs of beer. The study found 44 percent of the carbon footprint comes from the malting of barley, while another 42 percent is the result of the energy used during the brewing process. Twelve percent comes from delivery and refrigeration; the final 2 percent of the carbon footprint comes from wastes and hop growing.
At the start of 2010, Goose Island announced it was working to improve the efficiency of its brewhouse and malting process. The company also launched Green Line Pale Ale, a beer designed to have limited impact on the environment. The beer is sold only on draught to cut down on packaging and only in the Chicago area to reduce transportation. Even the tap handles for the brand are made from wood reclaimed from trees killed by the emerald ash borer in Wilmette, IL.
Larry Chase, brewer at Standing Stone Brewing in Ashland, OR, says he was attracted to the brewery in part because of its reputation for having a focus on sustainable brewing practices. “Customer reaction to our approach has been fabulous,” says Chase. “I came from the Midwest and Oregon is certainly a bit further along in wanting a green, sustainable approach to business, including a reduced carbon footprint.”
Some environmental movements are spurred on by the need to control costs. In the Great Lakes region new rules are causing some water utilities to boost fees by 25 percent, which will have a dramatic impact on both craft brewers and cheesemakers. In March, the first Great Lakes Water Conservation Workshop was held in Rochester, NY, and a second conference is set for October in Wisconsin. The program focuses on water conservation, water auditing, wastewater treatment and recycling in brewhouses.
At Standing Stone Brewing environmentally friendly beer production includes using 95 percent organic ingredients and trading spent grain with a local farmer for eggs and vegetables that are used in the brewpub’s kitchen. Pre-consumer food waste as well as yeast trub are composted. The company even started a commuter bicycle program for employees and tapped into a state grant to purchase bikes for staff that promised to use them to ride to and from work on a regular basis. Chase estimates that the company has 15 to 20 bikes in its fleet and has installed a bike rack at the brewery.
Organic beer is an increasingly visible part of the green beer movement. Wolaver’s in Vermont, Pisgah Brewing in North Carolina, Bison Brewing and Butte Creek Brewing in California, Peak Organic in Maine and Fish Tale Ales in Washington are among the better-known certified domestic organic brewers. Big brewers have also been jumping into the organic category; Anheuser-Busch InBev markets Stone Mill Organic Pale Ale. On the import side, Samuel Smith from England, Brasserie Dupont from Belgium and Pinkus-Muller from Germany are in good distribution in the U.S. There is even a beer festival devoted to the segment. The sixth annual North American Organic Brewers Festival was slated for the end of June in Portland, OR.
We want the Fish Tale Ale brand to be synonymous with organic beer,” says Tony Powell of Fish Brewing in Olympia, WA, noting the brewery has to comply with strict rules about everything from ingredient sourcing to how it cleans its equipment to make certified organic ales.
It takes a bit of education to tell consumers what is organic,” Powell says. “Some people are happy we are doing this. Others think they can ‘taste’ the organic in their beer.”
You will likely not be able to taste it, but Your Next Beer might just be green.
