The true best environmental choice outside of drinking draft beer from your local brewery is to purchase your beer in growlers. You would be amazed at how many growlers we fill – it’s fantastic! The next best option is probably for the brewery to distribute reusable bottles to retailers. We thought about doing this but we knew we weren't prepared for the logistical commitment they require, the expense of the machine, nor the space to put one of these behemoth washers in our small neighborhood brewery. These options aside, we now come to choosing bottles or cans.
Through my years of experience doing life cycle assessments, I know that virgin aluminum is more toxic and requires more energy to produce than glass. Luckily recycled aluminum has a much lower impact than virgin and our cans typically contain 68% recycled content. For this and all of the other reasons that we have in the sustainability section on this website (aluminum is more often recycled, the economic value of recycling aluminum subsidizes the recycling costs of all other materials, cans have more recycled content in them than glass bottles, cans protect beer from light, etc.), plus the fact that Michigan is a high recreation state where unbreakable is desirable, and the fact that the canning line we purchased requires less manpower to operate than a bottling line, we chose cans over bottles and it was the right choice for our brewery and one I am satisfied with.
Another brewery may come to a different conclusion and I would not fault them for it - it's like statistics where you can make anything the best choice depending on how you look at things and what is important to you. The debate will likely continue for years as the aluminum and glass associations independently fund research proving why their material is the best choice. Unless you look at each situation uniquely, it will be tough to have an ultimate “winner”. Full article here.
Also some details from Brewery Vivant on a New Belgium co-brew:
Our new fall beer release will be a collaboration brew with a “little” place from Fort Collins, Colorado. New Belgium Brewery! Details and beer specifics will be released in the coming weeks, but look for it to hit shelves statewide the last week in August. This will also coincide with New Belgium’s debut in the state of Michigan with 22oz. Fat Tire bombers
0 comments (click to read or post):
Post a Comment
Please leave a comment...I do moderate each comment so it may not appear immediately...and please be nice! You can also comment using Disqus (below) or even comment directly on Facebook (bottom).