Photo: thegordons
One more reason to love craft beer: it’s good for the environment.
A few weeks back, our colleagues at Wend Magazine published an article about the “environmental ethos” of craft brew, and as small brewery enthusiasts and environmentalists ourselves, the Matador Team was naturally interested in writer Kyle Cassidy’s observations.
Here’s what Cassidy had to say about craft beer and its low environmental impact:
1. Craft brewers buy local.
“They support their communities by buying fresh local ingredients.” For this reason, the carbon footprint of the ingredients that go into making that unique local brew is much smaller than would be the case for a big brewer who trucks in base ingredients across a larger distance.
2. Craft brewers sell local.
Just as they source their ingredients locally, many craft brewers only sell locally, too. While the decision to sell locally isn’t always or strictly an environmental decision–it’s often one based entirely in start-up/small business economics–it has positive environmental benefits, nonetheless.
Like the local sourcing of ingredients, selling locally means that the factory-to-point of sale path is a short one, requiring fewer transportation resources. Also, brewers can more easily reclaim their bottles, reusing them again and again.
3. Craft brewers connect with their communities.
Because of their emphasis on all things local, craft brewers have a greater tendency than big beer companies to connect with people and issues in their communities.
Craft breweries can support environmental and community building initiatives in collaboration with other organizations and businesses in the area, and have a much better idea about the impact of their operations because their management team doesn’t live hundreds or thousands of miles away.
4. Craft brewers manage their waste effectively.
Craft brewers, according to Cassidy, often enter into agreements with farmers in their communities to dispose of the grain waste in a manner that’s environmentally friendly.
In other locations where such collaborations aren’t feasible, craft brewers are experimenting with using spent grains as a fuel source to power their own operations.
What other reasons can you think of that make craft breweries environmentally sustainable? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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5 Comments... join the discussion!
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Wow, I’ve been more environmentally friendly than I thought for all these years. Just wish there were more breweries in New Jersey (they really need to reform the liquor laws here).
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“Craft” is a generalized term that typically refers to breweries that employ 50 or fewer people. However, breweries such as Rogue, Sierra Nevada, and others are more than happy to violate #2, pushing small, inefficient amounts of there beer to anyone who is interested.
Another note: with limited, obvious exceptions (Budweiser in St. Louis), many “large” breweries contract their brewing to local, craft breweries that otherwise couldn’t pay the bills. In addition to “La Crosse Lager” my local brewery (in La Crosse) also makes Smirnoff Ice.
Final note: a lot of “craft” breweries are actually carefully hidden subsidiaries of the beer giants (SABMiller, MolsonCoors, InBevAnheuserBusch). For example Leinenkugels’, though still operating a “small” brewery in Chippewa Falls, is owned by SABMiller; the recipes seen all over the U.S. (Summer Shandy, Sunset Wheat, etc.) are NOT made at the Chippewa Falls location. This doesn’t mean that Leinie’s a “bad” beer, but it does make the label of “craft” a bit of a misnomer (with regard to these published positives).
People should just buy “local”, even if it’s a cheap pilsner and not a hoity-toity I.P.A.
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Jacob-
While I was using “craft” in the same manner the Wend author defined it in his article, you raise some important points. As with any other process of purchasing and consuming, it behooves us, as buyers, to do due diligence. Just as “independent” cinema isn’t always indie (to name one example), craft beer isn’t always local, isn’t always environmentally friendly, and isn’t always so distant from the big breweries. It’s always a good idea, if you care about these sorts of things, to research the background of the product you want to buy, as well as the company that makes it.
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I definitely follow the “go local” approach. I typically ask waiters/bartenders what the most local brew they serve is and go with that.
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