Alcohol in the news; Great Lakes Brewing Company's green approach

From the Buzz

Great Lakes Brewing Company's green approach

Great Lakes Brewing Company is a premier craft brewery that is playing its part as an environment-friendly business. Through sustainable business practices this company has not only saved money for their business but has begun to set an example for other businesses to think about the overall benefits of sustainable practices.

Then, the author talks about the Cuyahoga River. Which is the name basis for the beer, Burning River.

Then, the author talks about legislation that was passed because of the burning river, including the Clean Water Act and the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.

What better way to raise awareness than to name a beer Burning River. It’s a classy Pale Ale that finishes very clean but with a taste that’s oh-so supreme. It’s only lightly filtered so when held up to the light you can see the particles floating around like snowflakes in mid-flight. It’s a bang for the buck, 6 percent, and cheap for the taste; it’s oh-so robust. The taste lingers on until the next time I can get my hands on this beer that has won ten medals for fun, and it surely will settle indecisions the beer aisle may spawn.

That's it.

By the way, Great Lakes beer is not available in the Champaign Urbana area. To get this brew, you'll have to go east to Indiana, or north to Chicago (if going east, I recommend Parti Pak Liquors, if going north, I recommend West Lakeview Liquors).

The article really has no information about the "green approach" as mentioned in the headline, other than raising awareness. That's too bad, because Great Lakes website has several pages of things that they are doing for sustainability.

Their first page is the Triple Bottom Line.

Great Lakes Brewing Company is an environmentally and socially conscious brewer of award-winning, all natural beer. The care that goes into the beer resonates from a commitment to the community and environment, otherwise known as the "Triple Bottom Line" - to engage in economic, social and environmental practices that achieve a sustainable, yet profitable, business.

The second is the Burning River Foundation.

The Burning River Foundation is a non-profit organization whose purpose through grants, donations and community involvement is to provide extensive education and resources for the

* Ecological Conservation
* Environmental Protection
* Scientific Exploration
* Historic Preservation and
* Sustainable Future of our waterways.

Established in 2007 as an outgrowth of the continued success of the Burning River Fest, the Burning River Foundation has awarded over $200,000 to local non-profit organizations such as the GreenCityBlueLake Institute, Great Lakes Science Center, Western Reserve Land Conservancy, Wendy Park Foundation, West Creek Preservation Committee and the Cuyahoga River Community Planning Organization for their work on water projects.

Third is the Pint Size Farm.

Great Lakes Brewing Company announces its continued partnership with Hale Farm & Village in Bath, Ohio, to organically farm vegetables, herbs and flowers for use in GLBC’s Brewpub. Surrounded by the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Hale Farm, which is operated by the Western Reserve Historical Society (WRHS), functions as a 19th century agrarian and village community with strong educational emphasis on the history, culture and development of the Western Reserve. A fallow, historic orchard field, dubbed the "Pint Size Farm", has been transformed by GLBC into an edible, culinary landscape using centuries-old gardening techniques and modern organic agriculture including the use of spent brewer’s grain and worm castings as organic compost and fertilizer.

Other Sustainability Projects

Just read all the other things they do that are sustainable/green.

Back to the article,

What better way to raise awareness than to name a beer Burning River.

They have a Burning River Fest, that not only raises awareness, it also raises money, that's a better way.