I found this video about New Belgium Brewing Company's efforts in sustainability. It's a bit long at almost 10 minutes, but shows a lot of the great things they are doing as one of the leaders in socially and environmentally responisble brewing:
Since it's Earth Day, I thought I would give a quick list of some links to some of the more sustainable and environmetnally friendly breweries. I read a great article in the Great Lakes Brewing News about Sierra Nevada and their innovations in sustainable energy. Pretty amazing. I'm trying to get a link or a copy of the article to post, but you can check out their wesbsite.
http://www.sierranevada.com/environment.html
Of course New Belgium is another brewery who has done amazing things to be enviromentally friendly, including being a wind powered brewery. Here's their philosophy:
We believe, to be environmental stewards, we need to:
1. Lovingly care for the planet that sustains us.
2. Steward natural resources by closing the loops between waste and input.
3. Minimize the environmental impact of shipping our beer.
4. Reduce our dependence on coal-fired electricity.
5. Protect our precious Rocky Mountain water resources.
6. Focus our efforts on conservation and efficiency.
7. Support innovative technology.
8. Model joyful environmentalism through our commitment to relationships, continuous improvement, and the camaraderie and cheer of beerYou can check out more at:
http://www.newbelgium.com/sustainability2.php
A small brewery in Canada is really doing some amazing things, and is almost completely sustainable. They are called Cranog Ales in British Columbia and they brew on their own farm:
Crannóg Ales is located on our own ten-acre farm in Sorrento, BC. The farm and brewery are fully integrated, with the brewery providing food for the livestock, and the farm providing hops for the brewery. The water for the brewery comes from a well in the middle of our farm, fed by springs on the farm as well as streams from the mountains which surround us.
More information about them can be found at: http://www.crannogales.com/
I'll plug an interview from my site, but a big champion of the organic/sustainable brewing movement is Chris O'Brien, founder of the Beer Activist blog and the writer of Fermenting Revolution. I interviewed him about some of these topics and more.
Scott at East End Brewing Company in Pittsburgh only takes out a garbage bag a month! Pretty incredible, check out his site for more information on their efforts, or the interview he did here. And for those in the Pittsburgh area, he's offering $1 off growlers for anyone who walks, bikes, or takes mass transit to the brewery on Earth Day!
Finally, Great Lakes Brewing Company is brewery in Cleveland that does amazing things as well. Their company goals include:
This week I've been meaning to get to some beer reviews of some great beers I've been enjoying as I wait for a couple of my own beers to get ready. Let me just take quick minute to profess my love for New Belgium Brewing Company. On a trip to Colorado about 7 years ago, I really fell in love with craft beers after drinking beers from Boulder Brewing Company, Flying Dog, and New Belgium. My wife and I brought back a case of Fat Tire, and it became a habit that friends would bring us back Fat Tire or we would do the same if we were headed back from Colorado or Nebraska. This summer, the buzz in the Twin Cities was that Fat Tire bombers (along with 1554 and Mothership Wit) were coming to the cities after a 10 year hiatus. There were literally lines around the block at some liquor stores. I wasn't one who was waiting (I swear) but I was more than excited. Well, this past week, six packs and 12 packs of New Belgium have arrived, including Folly Packs (samplers) and seasonals. The Folly Packs included 1554, Fat Tire, Mothership Wit, and a limited release. In this one, its Mighty Arrow Pale Ale.
One other quick note, and this could be a post all its own....its important to mention that New Belgium is quite possibly the most socially responsible brewery in the country. They are employee owned, completely sustainable, wind powered, and participate in a number of causes.
You can check out more here: http://www.newbelgium.com/sustainability.php
Ok...enough of my long winded intro, onto the beer reviews.
The limited release included in the Folly Pack was Mighty Arrow Pale Ale:
This beer pours a bronze color with a thin white head. I think it has a really nice floral and citrusy aroma to it. I wasn't expecting such a solid pale ale from them since most of their beers tend to have a unique flavor profile, but this is a great pale ale. Its not overly hoppy by any means, and the body is fairly light. But there's a great caramel presence in the body and a slight biscuit flavor I'd expect from Fat Tire or 2 Below. Throughout the beer, the hops are definitely there, and there's just a nice clean flavor to the rest of the beer. A damn good pale ale, and one I hope comes around more frequently. I'd put this up with Summit Extra Pale Ale as a pale I'd buy when I just want a really good PA.
Springboard Ale: This is their spring seasonal and is more of what I was expecting of a New Belgium release. Here's their description: SPRINGBOARD combines oats, ancient Chinese herbs and Mt. Hood hops to maintain a balanced equilibrium for such an exhilarating ale.
It states its brewed with Wormwood, Goji Berries, and Schisandra. The beer pours a cloudy, light yellow, with a thin but lacy white head. It has a very sweet and fruity aroma, with a definite yeasty presence. A really crisp, but sweet beer, this is a very interesting, easy drinking ale. I think this could be an easy beer to drink a lot of, its sweet like most Belgian beers, but really crisp and refreshing. Overall a unique, great drinking beer.
The final beer for this review is not from New Belgium, but from what is quickly becoming another favorite brewery of mine,
Millstream Brewing Co. from Amana, Iowa. On his last trip back from Iowa, my friend Jeff brought up a six pack of Schild Brau Amber, their flagship beer. I was excited to try this beer, since the other two I've had of theirs have been excellent. This beer is an 11 time medal winner at the GABF, including 4 in a row. It's described as a Vienna lager. The beer pours a reddish, copper color with a thin off white head. It has a wonderful malty body with some caramely sweetness, and a touch of spicy hoppiness. Its interesting because despite its malty body and dark color, its crisp like a lager. Yet another excellent beer from Millstream, I can't pick a favorite of the three I've had, but I think I'm going to have to keep bugging Jeff to bring back more every time he goes down to Iowa. Here's my review of their Iowa Pale Ale and John's White.
Salud!
The Bearded Brewer
I've been meaning to get to some reviews of some organic beers I've had recently. A couple of them I had awhile ago, and a few have been recent.
Fish Tale India Pale Ale- This is a beer I had at a friend's house and was really impressed. I'd seen this beer in the stores before, but had never picked it up. Fish Brewing Company is a brewery in Olympia, Washington and from their website it looks like they have three organic beers in their line. Here's a quote from their site: Fish Brewing provides three bottled organic ales made with choice ingredients grown without the use of the harmful fertilizers and pesticides that damage our precious streams and ground water.
This beer poured a nice golden-bronze color with a two finger white head. Right away a nice aroma of citrusy hops. I thought it might be cascade or centennial, but after reading their website it looks like they use a New Zealand organic hop called Pacific Gem. I've seen these hops for sale on the Seven Bridges Co-op website, and I might have to pick some up, because at least in this beer they were very similar to the two hop types I mentioned. There's a nice caramel presence and some maltiness in the body. A great drinking IPA, similar in my mind to Bell's Two Hearted, which is a good thing! I would for sure buy a sixer of this beer. Their website is: www.fishbrewing.com
New Belgium Mothership Wit- When New Belgium beer finally came to the cities this year we were not only blessed with Fat Tire, but two other great beers, the unique 1554 Black Ale, and this beer, their organic wit. I'm a fan of Belgian white beers, especially Hoegaarden and some American varieties. Hopefully, everyone knows about the pioneering that New Belgium does when it comes to sustainability in the brewing industry. If not, either read Fermenting Revolution by Chris O'Brien or google it because it deserves a post all its own. Anyway, onto the beer.
It pours a very pale yellow color, close to Hoegaarden, with a thin white head. It has a very lemony aroma to it, and some lemony presence in the aftertaste. It has some coriander evident as well, but not as much as some other wits on the market. Overall I think this is a good beer and very refreshing. It's not the best wit I've had or the best beer from New Belgium, but a good drinking wit and nice to see them adding an organic beer to their already wonderful approach to brewing.
Peak Organic Nut Brown Ale- This is the second offering from Peak Organic that I've tried. I like their amber a lot, if you're interested, here's my review http://www.beardedbrewing.org/2008/01/organic-beers.html
The brown ale pours a chocolate brown with a finger of off-white head. It has a nice malty sweetness with hints of chocolate and a nice nutty finish. It has very little hop presence, with a crisp, smoothness to it. Another good beer from Peak and a brown ale that I would put up with any other good browns out there.
I'm happy to see the amount of organic beers growing and I'm sure there are plenty out there I haven't tried. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.
Salud!
The Bearded Brewer
