A Blurb on Sustainable Brew Practices

Here’s a quick look at a few brewery’s in the Pacific Northwest that are taking steps to meet higher standards of ecological mindfulness.  It also makes sense that cutting waste and renewing/reusing makes more sense not only from a health perspective, but an economic one as well.  We are more concerned with the environmental impact here, so we dug up a few tasty brewpubs from the region that exemplify that is can be easy being green.

Hopworks Urban Brewery: Founder Christian Ettinger, began his legacy as a brewer at Laurelwood where organic brewing and sustainable practices still exist under the eye of Chad Kennedy. Along with the help of Abram Goldman-Armstrong (speaker at this year’s Craft Brewers Symposium on organics and sustainability) the HUB is employing the use of composting, rainbarreling, firing used oven oils to fuel brewing process, waste oven heat used to heat water, providing spent grains to local farmers for cattle fodder, bar constructed of recycled materials, a bio-diesel delivery truck, and other little details such as energy efficient lighting. Also, Goldman-Armstrong has been a staunch proponent of and writer about sustainable living for some time. He is currently in the process of installing an eco-roof on his home.

Roots Organic Brewing: Craig Nicholls and Jason McAdam were at the forefront of organic brewing in the Pacific Northwest. In fact, Roots is the first certified all-organic brewery in Oregon. Nicholls is an outspoken proponent of sustainability and like Hopworks, Roots’ pub is put together of predominantly recycled materials. Roots with the help of Goldman-Armstrong host the annual North American Organic Beer Fest, the largest of its kind featuring organic and sustainably minded brews from around the world.

Sierra Nevada Brewing: For some time SNBC has been employing green practices including thermal energy and growing their own hops outside of the brewery. As of late, the brewery has made news by turning brewing waste into ethanol. Through the use of microfuelers, discarded yeast can produce up to 70 gallons a week of 100% ethanol. The company manufacturing the microfuelers is based in Chico where SN is located.

Standing Stone Brewing Company: As previously mentioned here in Brewpublic, Ashland, Oregon’s Standing Stone was presented with the second annual Oregon Governors Sustainability Award for their green practices. This year, two Oregon breweries were honored with the award in the “Small Business” category. They were Full Sail Brewing (Hood River, OR) and Klamath Basin Brewing (Klamath Falls, OR). Full Sail, like Widmer is a proponent of wind energy to cut back on energy waste. Klamath Basin, is unique in that the brewery is fueled by underground geothermal flows.

As stated on the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department’s website, “The Governor’s Sustainability Awards Program is intended to promote and advance the inclusion of sustainable practices in government and the private sector. Sustainable practices are broadly defined as those that strive to optimize an organization’s financial, environmental and social performance. Also, Winners will show a commitment to sustainability that goes beyond compliance with regulatory requirements. Winners will be innovators in their fields and show that becoming more sustainable is not in conflict with achieving the organization’s core mission, whatever that may be. The Awards broadly defines sustainable practices as those that strive to optimize an organization’s financial, environmental and social performance.”

There are a lot of ways businesses can do their part in being more sustainable. Sometimes green-washing, or throwing the word “green” around to make businesses like Wal-Mart or Costco try to appear more sustainable can damage the efforts of smaller community minded businesses who are honestly trying to give back to the community and protect the environment. By now, most of us in the PNW are familiar with the phrase “Think Global, Drink Local.” Well, this is an important cornerstone to our future. Considering the impact of our actions and reducing consumption is the key to the future of the life on earth (at least for humans). It is encouraging that the spirit of many businesses and consumers in this region is at the forefront of taking action to ensure a better future. However, we still have a long, long way to go.