Shambrew? Go Highland!!!

Their company, Broo, with its signature line of shampoo using Highland Brewing Co.’s St. Terese’s Pale Ale as the prime ingredient, is catching on nationwide... and I must say, it's has a pretty good base.

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Six Up - Check out Santa Cruz

"We're a small community here, and we're all friends," Chavez said. "There's not really a need for competition."


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Brewing Nuance

"Most craft breweries are within walking or biking distance of you, meaning you have the opportunity to see the product made, and taste it at its absolute freshest. Craft beer is now a major influence on our local and regional economies. While the small brewer segment accounts for less than 10 percent of total beer sales in the United States, it holds more than 75 percent of the jobs in the overall brewing industry."

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Great Read Here on Biomass/New Belgium's Efforts

BioMassive

Beer makers research new uses for brewery waste

Great Lakes Brewing and Others Contemplate "The Loop"

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Twisted Pine Brewing Company's new Roots Revival Carrot IPA

Neat read...

Matt Brewing Cuts Steam Use, Energy Costs

The company behind Saranac brand beers has installed a steam pressure management system that has reduced steam use by about a third, while saving water and cutting costs.

The Matt Brewing Company consulted with sales engineers R.L. Stone Co. about the new instrumentation, which includes an ABB Swirl flowmeter, an ABB ControlMaster CM10 flow computer and an ABB ControlMaster CM30 single-loop controller, reports Sustainable Plant.

Steam cost is one of the most important energy variables in Matt Brewing’s process at its Utica, N.Y., site. These three instruments combined allow operators to use steam at the optimum mass flow rate based on the volume of wort – the liquid “soup” a beer is brewed from – that is being put in a brew kettle.

As a result of the new system the brewery has cut average pressures required to brew from 24 psi to 12 psi. The system also saves 1,200 gallons of water per brew cycle and saves the brewery an estimated $630 a day. The payback time for the instrumentation is about three to four months, Matt Brewing says.

Green thinking is a trend among breweries, including smaller, local beer makers.

Craft brewery New Belgium Brewing in Fort Collins, Colo., is tied to that city’s smart grid, meaning that an engine and solar array the brewery owns can pump power back to the grid at times of peak demand. In 2010, it started using 50 percent recycled clear cold beverage cups for beer it sells at some events.

It is commonplace in Colorado’s Front Range – the self-styled “Napa Valley of craft beer” – for craft breweries, such asRenegade Brewing Company, to send products used in the brew process to local farms to use as animal feed.

Larger breweries are also getting in on the sustainability act. In September last year, Energy Edge Technologies Corporation announced it had reduced energy consumption at a Yuengling brewery in Tampa, Fla., by over 14 percent.

The efficiency analysis and subsequent refit also improved light quality and increased transformer capacity by 13 percent. The project has an estimated 18-month return on investment, according to Energy Edge.

The Tampa brewery is one of two run by Yuengling, America’s oldest operating beer company.

In May last year, Anheuser-Busch announced the installation of a solar array on the roof of its Newark, N.J., brewery. The array now generates more than 523,000 kW hours of electricity a year.

Grand Rapids Brewing Company to be First Organic Brewery in Michigan

100% organic beer and the same philosophy in the kitchen - the soon-to-be only certified organic brewery in the state, in this really cool historical building downtown. The conversation in this article is a bit frightening, yet I see the potential for Sustainability to bring him out of the Fountainhead. Obviously this dude has got it going on to quite an extent, and operations like these seem like sound steering, no matter the pathological politics. He is one heavy hitter when it comes to craft, supposedly leading the way for this weeks tie between Asheville and Grand Rapids. Sick, awesome, cool. I still fear the objectivist stylings of Rand.

Photo Courtesy

The Hawkins Building (and the entire block, technically) gets its name from a wholesale grocery operation that occupied the building back in the early 20th century. The properties occupy prime real estate on a main downtown artery as well as a acting as a feeder to one of the common spaces that makes this area an up and comer, right near the Van Andel Arena. I am always stoked on urban revitalization, as it is truly the space where all of the good qualities of humanity might coalesce, and we see this happening all over the country.



Same dude owns HopCat - voted as one of the best beer bars in the world, and surely one of the raddest places I've soiled myself. He also owns Stella's Lounge and the Viceroy all just a couple blocks away. He is big time.

Don't forget this dude straight up told Grand Rapids - I won't sell Budweiser or any of those giants in my place and, back in 2008, told people "no smoking" in my place. Cool. He is such a closet progressive.

Smuttynose to Double Capacity - Recipient of Community Block Grant and Pursuing LEED Gold Certification

"The project includes many conservation measures, including preserving and repurposing two historic buildings on the property, a high-efficiency waste treatment system, and other energy efficiency measures. The new building is in line for gold certification in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program."


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Unsustainable. Period.

Big Beer Brewers Like Anheuser-Busch Are Drunk on Greed

Big brewers like Anheuser-Busch frequently admonish us imbibers of their grain products to "drink responsibly."

Well, I say back to them: Lobby responsibly.
In particular, I point to a disgusting binge of besotted lobbying by Anheuser-Busch (now owned by the Belgian beer conglomerate InBev) and other beer barons this year in the Nebraska legislature.

At issue was the "town" of Whiteclay, smack dab on the Nebraska-South Dakota border. I put "town" in quotes because only 10 people live there -- but it is home to four beer stores. Why? Because right across the state line is the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation of the Oglala Sioux tribe, which has a devastating problem of alcohol addiction among its 20,000 members, combined with intractable and dispiriting poverty.



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Iconic Milwaukee Brewing Company Rolls Out First “All Local” Beer

If you read about any brewery with an ongoing commitment  to sustainability, most will convey that, at the most fundamental level, it required a change in culture and mindset, leadership and focus. It is only from this mindset that all the potential for sustainability is brought into view... it's a way of being that constantly informs. Sustainability's prevalence is a shift in mental economy, and I would argue,  a revolution against the existing industry - both in economics and ideology.

Most will say it came w. a bit of dissonance... that first foot in the icy and unknown waters of compassion, cooperation, attenuating with the community, picking the trail that brings the rest of the world into your mission.

As for gimmicks, sustainability in this regard is like due diligence, and if you really push for responsibility, transparency, engaging the community and staying relevant without being frivolous, well, you are acting from a sustainable point of view. Of course it will come off a little lame if you go for low hanging fruit - but was your first foray into craft the creation of a dashing schwartzpils? Of course not. But we live in a society that vets information in a wildly arcane way, much of it coming out of defense posture or confirmation bias. Yes, many still act like sustainability is just an extension of some weeping mother bemoaning the loss of narwhales. Even drawing this approximation makes me ill, but so does the pain I experience when I see so many people still drinking Coors Light. Goes both ways, homey.

For example, brewery economics reveal many opportunities for cost savings via sustainability. Is it a risk? Yes. At this fragile time in history, though, what isn't a risk? A poor choice of labels? Pushing capacity to fulfill, knowing full on that scaling up w. out the proper infrastructure might fill the bottles but compromise the artistry? Even opportunity costs and associated risks - ditching the local beer events because your brewery is now beyond mainstream?

These are all choices - but through what lens are we viewing these things? Are we truly risk literate? This is where sustainability thrives.

More on this later... but read up.

From me to we: communities are the marketer's key to the networked age

Marketers must tap into the 'networked economy' by developing connections with local communities and valuing social purpose to outperform traditional marketing approaches

Great Article on finding purpose - the core of sustainability 

New Chicago Brewery Leaves "The Plant"

Co-founder Samuel Evans made an announcement via email, and through the company's blog and Facebook pages:

To our fans, friends and supporters -

After a lot of thinking and soul searching, we have decided to move out of The Plant. We can’t tell you how disappointed we are to leave our friends and neighbors in the Back of the Yards neighborhood. The vision and ambition of The Plant is unprecedented and we were excited to be part of it. However, due to unforeseen circumstances with the building’s continuing redevelopment, our launch would be pushed back if we remained.

We feel that it is our responsibility to our investors, our distributor and you, our consumers, to ensure that we continue moving forward toward launching New Chicago Beer Co. on time, as expected. We wish John Edel and everyone else involved with the project nothing but the best. We hope to be able to drink beer there in the future.

As for where we will be brewing – we are working on finalizing a location and we promise to keep you posted. No matter what, we have a plan in place that we feel confident will ensure our launch as planned later this year. Please feel free to email abigail@newchicagobeer.com with any additional questions or concerns about the brewery.

At this time, know that our priority has always been and continues to be making amazing beer and getting it into your hands as soon as possible. Thank you all for your support, encouragement and patience as we move forward past this transition and toward launch.

Sincerely,

Jesse, Samuel and the rest of the New Chicago Beer Co. team

If I had an inch or brewing prowess I would jump in - the process is amazing. Zero Waste? It's definitely the next goal for all breweries (we hope).

Bummer. I had high hopes for their vital role in this outfit. What will be the new input at The Plant? We'll see.

Drinktec (Euro) 2013 Showcases Solutions to Fit both Global Concerns and Local Specialist Breweries

The brewing industry of the future will be diverse – diverse in the raw materials used, in the energy sources, taste profiles and types of beer. 

This diversity is being driven by on the one hand by companies which optimize costs and efficiency, but on the other hand, also by small specialist breweries which consistently emphasize quality and individualism. From September 16 to 20, 2013 there will be one single point of convergence for both strategies, despite their widely divergent requirements: drinktec. This is the world’s leading trade fair for beverage and liquid food technology, and it offers important insights for the entire brewing industry. Globally active companies will benefit as much as small- and medium-sized enterprises; technical managers will find it rewarding, and so will the purchasing and marketing experts for the breweries.

Beers with appeal and the lowest possible variable costs

With the rising costs of energy, raw materials and human resources, the global players in the brewing industry are faced with the central task of producing beers with appeal and the lowest possible variable costs (opex). Against this background, continuous, fully automated and inline-monitored production processes and ‘high gravity’ will penetrate this market sector generally. Compared with conventional equipment in the brewing room and cellar, ‘high gravity’ saves approximately 30 percent capacity, and so also economizes on operational and capital costs.
As to energy, the trend is towards decentralized supply, meaning that heating, refrigeration and electricity requirements will be covered, as far as possible, by in-house biogas and also other renewable sources such as solar-thermal energy. Also, the brewery facilities will undergo further energy improvements, not just of individual machines but of the process as a whole. For example, in future two brewing rooms will be used instead of a single large one. The advantage of this is that the brewery will have smaller operating units and will not always have to run at full capacity, thus enabling it to brew smaller volumes efficiently.

Raw materials are becoming more and more variable

The use of raw materials will be a central theme of drinktec 2013 in two respects. This prediction comes from Professor Martin Krottenthaler from the Weihenstephan Triesdorf University. He says, "Here, in the global market, the first matter of interest is the highest possible yield. The second is that the raw materials will become more variable. The central question is: where do I get the starch for brewing at low cost? And it doesn’t have to come from traditional raw materials, if, perhaps, logistical costs are rising, or the competition is growing, or because of the arable areas. This directly influences the machine technology needed." Professor Krottenthaler sees human resources as another strategic corporate goal. "Employees with dual training, meaning they are equally competent in theory and practice, will become an important factor for the future, as this is the only way to operate the complex production units optimally with the lowest possible input from human resources."

Smaller production units

Technology is the watchword. Smaller ‘high-tech’ production units are needed so that the specialties in demand can be brewed flexibly. All the famous suppliers who are exhibiting at drinktec are picking up on this trend. As Klaus Wasmuht, Head of Process Technology at the Ziemann Group, explains: "At drinktec 2013 we are showing an appropriate brewing room design. I also think that horizontal tanks will undergo a renaissance, at least in some circles, because of their characteristically different taste profile."

It's Not Just the Undulates Eating Grains

Following the nose-to-tail, no-waste ethos, more chefs and bakers around the country are cooking with spent grains, the aromatic byproduct of beer brewing. Most commonly comprised of malted barley, spent grains can also include rye, oats or wheat. Incorporating the softened grains into foods is more than a way to be economical and sustainable: It can add textures and flavors that range from earthy to nutty to chocolaty, depending on the beer of origin.

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