Beer In Washington DC

June 15, 2010

This has kept me busy the last couple months.

After about a six year hiatus, I am back in my old Washington D.C. neighborhood, Columbia Heights. I’ve been busy furnishing the new house, getting a solar photovoltaic array lined up for the west roof and working on a green roof for the detached garage. I planted hops on the south lawn but they have already failed. I installed a beehive in the north yard and they are doing fine so far. Long term plan is for a 20 gallon brewery in the garage. Haven’t gotten a compost bin set up in the back yard yet.

In other news, I expect the six new breweries planned in the DC area to keep me busy for the next several months. Greg Kitsock, my editor at American Brewer and Mid Atlantic Brewing News, recently posted this round up: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/all-we-can-eat/beer/beer-dcs-impending-brewery-boo.html?wprss=all-we-can-eat.

Ran into Favio Garcia the other day and he confirmed that Rhino Chasers is almost ready to open. Attended Savor last weekend and was disappointed not to find a single organic beer. But breweries with other sustainability efforts had a presence, such as Sierra Nevada with its all-estate grown beer, New Belgium with its all-around reputation for operational sustainability, and a number of smaller breweries with various sustainability efforts.

In the next week or two I expect to sit down for a beer at the new Meridian Pint, a mere two blocks from my new house. In a future post I’ll have to do a run of the growing raft of good beer bars in Columbia Heights. With its commitment to all-American and all-draft, Meridian Pint promises to top the list.

6 Comments | New breweries, Sustainability | Permalink
Posted by beeractivist

America’s Original Organic Beer Is Hitting the Long Trail

February 20, 2010

It became official last November. Two of Vermont’s oldest craft breweries are coming together. Long Trail Brewing Co. is purchasing Otter Creek Brewing Co.

Otter Creek has produced the Wolaver’s line of organic beers since 2002 when the Wolaver family bought the brewery and Morgan Wolaver took hold of the reins. I can’t find a public statement from Wolaver and a query to one of Otter Creek’s sale s reps only yielded a press release. I’m so curious about Morgan’s reasons for selling, but the result should be fine. Long Trail has a long history in Vermont and there are some indications that they have an environmental commitment. Their ECOBrew website describes some of their environmental initiatives. Most of it is fairly commonplace activity at breweries these days but it is good customer education.

Mike Gerhart, formerly of Dogfish Head Brewing, came on board as Otter Creek’s new head of brewing last year and he has been cranking out some fine new brews. Check out this video in which Mike talks about Otter Creek’s commitment to organic brewing and supporting small farmers.



1 Comment | Organic, GMO, Sustainability | Permalink
Posted by beeractivist

A Greener Mood Lights Up Pike Pub

September 22, 2009

Pike Brewmaster Drew Clulely at a Brickskeller Beer Tasting a couple years ago.

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.

Leave a Comment » | Cooking with Beer, Energy, Global warming, Sustainability | Permalink
Posted by beeractivist

A Beer Brewed with Unmalted Barley?

September 15, 2009
Beer brewed entirely 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.

9 Comments | Energy, Global warming, Sustainability | Permalink
Posted by beeractivist

SustainaBrew

September 15, 2009

Jason Sahler is expanding the beer activism in New York City with his new SustainaBrew blog: The Sustainable Side of Beer.” Hey! I like the sounds of that.

destruise_blackalbert_240 Jason graduated from NYU with a B.A in Sustainable Development in 2007 and has been a fan of craft beer ever since going to Scotland where he first tasted what he calls “real” beer. He is a devout follower of small businesses and anything “slow.”

In evidence of the obvious overlapping interests between Beer Activist and Sustainabrew, Jason appears to have published a post (right as I am writing this) on the same exact topic I was just about to publish myself – about Novozyme, an enzyme claims to allow brewers to use whole barley grain rather than malt!

More on that here in a few minutes. Meanwhile, take a look at this post on Sustainabrew in which brewer Maggie Fuller recounts some of her less-than-appreciated encounters as a woman in the brewing industry.

1 Comment | beer publications, Sustainability | Permalink
Posted by beeractivist

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