Sustainability in the Brewing Industry

Methane bubble and water treatment plant at New Belgium Photo by Andrea Hendrickson

SUSTAINABILITY IN THE BREWING INDUSTRY

By Abram Goldman-Armstrong
Honorary Beer Scribe for Guest on Tap

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Beers once were marketed on flavor alone with straightforward ad slogans such as “finest malted barley.” Now brewers across the country are touting sustainability as a major virtue of their beers.
On coasters and in ads and other marketing materials, breweries such as Laurelwood, New Belgium, Deschutes, Full Sail, McMenamins and Widmer boast about their use of wind power.
For many brewers, the emphasis on sustainability goes beyond mere greenwashing. The Earth-saving practices implemented by breweries like New Old Lompoc often are simple no-frills affairs, consisting of smart use and reuse of energy and resources.
Some of the more glamorous sustainability projects have been implemented by industry leaders such as Colorado’s New Belgium and Northern California’s Anderson Valley.
Both treat their wastewater on site, the former capturing methane with an anaerobic digester to generate electricity for the brewery, the latter using it to irrigate hops.
Anderson Valley boasts Northern California’s largest solar array, which can provide the brewery with two-fifths of its energy needs. In Chico, Sierra Nevada is at work on its own solar array, which, along with hydrogen fuel cells, can provide enough energy to take the brewer 90 percent off the grid.
Packaging materials are an important factor in sustainable brewing. Full Sail uses 100 percent recycled paperboard for its six-packs and cases. Portland Bottling’s manufacturing plant uses about 50 percent recycled glass; even New Belgium, in Colorado, purchases its 22-ounce bottles from it.
Water conservation, too,s can make a big environmental impact. Breweries typically use six to eight gallons of water for every gallon of beer produced. Through various methods, water use can be reduced to as little as 3.45 gallons (Full Sail) or 3.9 gallons (New Belgium).
At Olympia’s Fish Brewing Co., it’s about the water — not in the beer, but in the streams, rivers and oceans of Cascadia. Fish has brewed environmental fundraising beers since 1999, including Wild Salmon Pale Ale, which benefits Save Our Wild Salmon, and draught-only Thornton Creek Pale Ale, dedicated to the restoration of a nearby watershed.
Since releasing its Organic Amber in 1999, Fish has transitioned the bulk of its production to organic, committing to keeping pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilizers out of streams and rivers.
Fish’s seasonal Detonator Doppelbock is “dedicated to the removal of salmon-killing dams and the restoration of free-flowing rivers.”
Juneau’s Alaskan Brewing recently launched a program to donate 1 percent of proceeds from its IPA to an organization called Coastal CODE (Clean Oceans Depend on Everyone), which gives grants to “individuals and organizations taking action to preserve the health of oceans,” says Alaskan’s Human Resources Manager Heather Conlon.
Oregon’s own Solv was one of the first grant recipients for its annual beach cleanup.
Other sustainability practices at Alaskan have arisen from necessity. Due to its location, Alaskan had to pay a premium to import carbon dioxide and began harvesting carbon dioxide from fermentation in 1998, a practice usually employed only by much larger breweries.
The recovered carbon dioxide is cleaned and stored, and then used to carbonate finished beer.
Here in Portland, a number of smaller breweries are doing their part. They may not be able to install massive infrastructure items such as solar arrays, wastewater treatment plants or carbon dioxide recovery plants, but smaller breweries still can have an impact.
Roots Organic Brewing Co. and the Alameda Brewhouse use “cap” fermenters to trap carbon dioxide in beer as it’s produced. Hopworks Urban Brewery will utilize biodiesel to power its brewhouse.
Most local breweries send their spent grain to farmers, who feed it to livestock, and many brewpubs, such as Widmer’s Gasthaus and Roots, compost their food waste.
Little by little, brewers are moving toward a sustainable future.