Brewery Ommegang Fights Fracking in Upstate NY

Brewery Ommegang,  in Cooperstown, New York, is warning that it would relocate if fracking is allowed in the nearby town of Middlefield. According to an article in thedailystar.com, court papers filed by Ommegang state that: “Its Master Brewer and Quality Control chemist agree that even if Brewery Ommegang wished to do so, it could not remove many of the toxic chemicals commonly used in hydrofracking, should they be released into the Brewery’s water supply.”

By chance, I am drinking an Ommegang Abbey Ale as I read this article. About ten years ago, I spent a weekend camping near the brewery and passed an incredibly fun and friendly afternoon tasting homebrews and Ommegang brews with their then brewmaster, Randy Thiel, who was so hospitable that he even treated us to dinner.

Good for Ommegang to stand up against fracking. I hope their participation in the lawsuit helps end this dangerous and backwards practice. Read the full article here.

A Greener Mood Lights Up Pike Pub

Washington Post Beer Columnist Greg Kitsock (L) chats with Pike brewmaster Drew Clulely (R) at the Brickskeller a couple years ago.

As a result of the first-ever Seattle Carrot Mob (now called “Agent Green”) event held at the Pike Pub, and sponsored by Green Drinks Seattle on Earth Day, April 22, 2009, Pike committed 25% of that day’s sales to energy efficient retrofits.

So they partnered with Seattle City Light to upgrade their lights to LEDs. The upgrade saved 51,584 kWh per year, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by over 30 tons. And they implemented a new composting program with Cedar Grove Compost which they estimate will reduce their waste to landfill by 95%.

The brewery has other sustainability advantages too. Like many traditional breweries, it uses the natural force of gravity (the Pub is built into a hill) rather than electric pumps to transfer beer during the brewing process. They use steam for brewing, that comes from Seattle Steam, a public utility located one block away. Fortunately for Pike, Seattle Steam is introducing a new biomass burner (using urban waste wood), which will lower their carbon footprint (and that of the nearly 200 buildings, including Pike Brewery, they serve) by fifty percent.

Sustainability Is Delicious
Part of Pike’s commitment to sustainability comes in the form of deliciousness. Much of their food comes from local and sustainable producers. Burgers come from Heritage Meats in Olympia, wild salmon is fresh from Kodiak Alaska, and cheeses are all from local artisan cheesemakers: Quillisascut in Rice Washington;  Mt. Townsend from Pt. Townsend;  River Valley Cheese from Fall City, who also use Pike’s spent grain to feed their herd; and Estrella Family Creamery in Montesano who rind wash their Pike Brewleggio with Pike’s Tandem Double Ale. They buy tuna from Joe Malley’s Fishing Vessel, St. Jude, and their smoked salmon comes from Solly at Pure Food Fish, only steps away from the brewpub in the Pike Place Market. Uli’s Sausage makes bratwurst with Pike Kilt Lifter Scotch Ale and Salami comes from Salumi Salami just a few blocks away. Prosciutto travels from Iowa but is from the country’s first organic prosciutto maker, La Quercia.  For dessert, Pike XXXXX Gelato is made by Gelatiamo Gelateria a block away using Pike XXXXX Extra Stout in the recipe. Pike also offers an Ale and Choclate Pairing with Carter’s Chocolates from Port Orchard where Matt makes four truffles with Pike ales. And the Pike bar also features local, northwest spirits.

Whew! I’m full!

Green Drinks Thank You Event
Not all of this was a result of the Agent Green carrot mob, but Pike wants to thank them for pushing them to go greener with the LEDs and composting. With breweries, thanks usually comes in the form of beer. So if you’re in Seattle, stop down at the Pike on Wednesday, October 7th for a Green Drinks gathering from 4-6pm with specials on food and beer.

A Beer Brewed with Unmalted Barley?

Clime8 beer is brewed by the Harboe brewing company in Denmark. The package looks kind of like an energy drink, but that’s not the only unusual thing about it. This beer is brewed with unmalted barley.

It is the product of two and a half years of research that yielded a new enzyme called Ondea Pro created by the biotechnology firm Novozyme.

The enzyme breaks down the starch in barley into fermentable sugar – the same thing malting does. Except malting costs a lot of money, uses a lot of energy, and adds an extra chunk of time and transport into the brewing supply chain.

Clim8 is the first beer brewed with barley processed by this new enzyme. According to Novozyme, Ondea Pro reduced Harboe’s greenhouse gas emissions by eight percent for this beer, hence the name.

I’m eager to try this beer. The package makes it look like some kind of energy drink, and google turns up no reviews of this beer. If it tastes good, this could prove to be a major breakthrough that changes brewing. Otherwise, it’ll just be an interesting idea.

Beer brewed entirely with unmalted barley.

Anheuser-Busch Tiptoes Toward Alternative Energy

One of A-B's BERS systems.

Anheuser-Busch announced it will brew about one in seven beers, or over 5 billion 12.oz servings, with alternative energy by 2009 as part of its goal to run its U.S. operations on 15 percent renewable fuel by 2010. This is part of their effort to reduce total greenhouse gas emissions to 5 percent below 2005 levels by the year 2010 for all of its U.S. operations.

Their current efforts focus on just two of their 12 U.S. breweries. They plan to generate 15 percent of the fuel needed at their Fairfield, CA brewery from a bio-energy recovery system (BERS), which turns brewing wastewater into fuel. You can read more about the BERS system in my book about sustainable breweries, Fermenting Revolution. Another three percent of the brewery’s electricity needs will be generated on-site with solar panels.

The company’s Houston brewery will use more methane gas by tapping into a nearby landfill. When combined with that facility’s existing BERS, the two alternative energy systems will provide more than 70 percent of that brewery’s total fuel needs.

These projects are both laudable but they are not the big deal they are made out to be in the media. First of all, the company’s energy goal is timid: a mere 15% renewables by 2010. Secondly, these projects don’t represent any significant, new commitment to renewable energy. A-B has been using BERS for years and the landfill gas project is just a cost-effective energy choice, especially given today’s rising and volatile energy prices. The simple fact is that these systems will save the company money. I think that’s great, but it is disingenuous to tout these as eco-minded endeavors.

A number of craft breweries have made far bigger strides in the quest for energy alternatives. Sierra Nevada, America’s second largest craft brewery, has charted a course for supplying all of their energy needs through onsite renewable energy generation. They have a solar array going online that will supply a third of their energy needs. And they use one of the country’s largest fuel cell installations to convert the methane gas produced from their wastewater treatment into electric power and heat, recapturing the waste heat for use in the brewing process. At the Craft Brewers Conference earlier this year, brewery founder and CEO Ken Grossman told me that:

“With the addition of our solar panels, we are approaching our goal of providing 100 percent of our energy needs with clean on-site alternative energy generation.”

New Belgium, America’s third largest craft brewer, has relied entirely on renewable energy for ten years now by sourcing wind power and using a combined heat and power system that treats their wastewater and generates methane gas for use as fuel (related: read my article about the lifecycle analysis of their Fat Tire beer right here).

In this light, A-B appears to be tiptoeing down the alternative energy track as craft brewers are already crossing the finish line.

Sierra Nevada Goes Organic

I visited the Sierra Nevada brewery last fall and spoke with founder and owner Ken Grossman about their sustainability efforts. Given the limited role sustainability plays in the company’s marketing, I was pleasantly surprised to learn how far the brewery has already traveled down the road to sustainability. Then in April I had the distinct honor and pleasure to join Ken on a panel about sustainability programs at the Craft Brewers Conference.

(Sierra Nevada’s organic hop yard abuts the visitor parking lot right next to the brewery in Chico, Ca.)

One particularly surprising fact I learned was that they have an on-site organic hop yard. Two weeks ago I ran into the Chicago-area Sierra Nevada reps at the Green Procurement Expo at Chicago’s Navy Pier convention center. I ducked over to their booth for a ‘coffee break’ during the trade show, and learned that they are soon releasing their first Estate Harvest Ale which will be brewed with the organic hops from their own yard. The bad news is that it will only be available locally around the company’s Chico, CA home.

I also just learned that Sierra Nevada has conducted a greenhouse gas emissions inventory and had the results certified by the California Climate Action Registry and has signed up with PG&E’s ClimateSmart program to offset their emissions. Here’s a short interview with Ken Grossman about both of these efforts that just appeared on the blog Beer, Maine & Me.