Conservationist Eric Steen aims to change that. His Earth to Beer project is bringing together over 35 breweries from across the US to make a commitment to brewing a mindfully sourced and packaged beer in collaboration with local environmental nonprofits this Earth Day, “to pack as much sustainability as possible into each can.”

As the impacts of climate change intensify worldwide, there is a greater awareness that we need to make changes in our daily lives to help combat its effects. With this project, Steen is enabling breweries and drinkers to do this in an open-ended and collaborative fashion. “What I think is truly unique about Earth to Beer is that we don’t prescribe a specific way to approach the environmental question,” Steen explains. “We aren’t telling brewers to buy organic only, we’re saying that organic is one of many great options that also include local, regenerative agriculture, other certifications like Salmon-Safe, non-certified but responsibly grown, and more. This decentralized approach allows breweries to get creative in ways that make sense for them, their budgets, and their communities.” 

Ghostfish Brewing of Seattle is putting out an oyster stout and supporting the Puget Sound Restoration Fund as part of the Earth to Beer project. (Photo courtesy Ghostfish Brewing)

Steen aims to make the project as accessible as possible for breweries and drinkers, offering negotiated discounts with suppliers, information about ethical sourcing, and marketing and branding resources and custom artwork to help breweries attract interest from customers and retailers. Brewers can make any style of beer and use whichever sustainable resources they feel will suit their needs best. Recipes released already include Aslan Brewing’s classic Amber Ale, which uses all Salmon-Safe certified hops, and GearHouse Brewing’s Imperial Honey Wheat Ale brewed with Pennsylvania honey and aged in locally sourced whiskey barrels.

Earth to Beer features participants from Alaska to Texas to Hawaii, all of whom have committed to working with sustainable suppliers and partnering with a local environmental nonprofit. “We’ve asked breweries to reverse the role of what normally happens with a nonprofit — usually the nonprofit approaches the brewery and there’s a pretty hands-off way of giving donated beer for a cause. In Earth to Beer, breweries have to find a nonprofit they want to work with, do the outreach and invite them in” says Steen.

Oddwood Brewing in Austin TX has chosen to partner with the Colorado River Alliance for the project. “With good, clean water being absolutely crucial to the creation of good beer we, as a small community-oriented brewery, wanted to team up with those that are fighting to protect our water and communities,” says Oddwood’s events and operations manager Charlie Mikulich. Oddwood is also sourcing its malt from TexMalt, a locally based supplier that works with nearby farms to reduce the carbon footprint of malt supply. It is also sourcing from Yakima Chief Hops, a grower-owned family farm collective that uses green energy to power its facilities, a water reclamation program to keep local habitats safe, and created the Green Chief Program (a sustainability management program that promotes and develops guidelines for all their farms). 

Breweries are required to pay a small fee to join Earth to Beer and make a contribution to the nonprofit of their choice, depending on brewery size, ranging from $500-$1,000 minimum. They are also expected to begin open-ended collaborations, such as providing beer for events and offering free meeting spaces. For startups and minority-owned breweries, sponsor Arryved, which specializes in point-of-sale technology, has provided a stipend so cost doesn’t prohibit participation. “Building a better world through beer requires not only more sustainable ingredients and processes, but also more opportunities for people of color to participate and contribute to the creativity and problem solving we will need to get there,” says Aaron Gore, Director of Community and Partnerships at Arryved.

MadTree Brewing in Cincinnati, Ohio organizes staff volunteer days and donates one percent of all sales to local nonprofits. (Photo courtesy MadTree Brewing)

Another sponsor and collaborator is Canworks, the first US company to print directly onto aluminum cans, eliminating plastic waste and making them recyclable. “There is a challenge in consumer awareness. Most consumers don’t realize that many of the cans they recycle are covered in shrink sleeves and those cans are going straight to a landfill because of that,” says Canworks head of marketing Daniel Rigdon. That’s where Earth to Beer comes in. “Educating consumers so they can make informed decisions is the fastest way to effect change,” Rigdon explains.

Steen aims to spearhead wider industry change by creating a multi-layered, inclusive, educational and open-ended initiative. “Formalizing a campaign around Earth Day and institutionalizing it will go a long way to get breweries who aren’t thinking about their impact to start to care,” he says. This is also the goal for Tulsa OK’s Heirloom Rustic Ales, which is partnering with the Conservation Coalition of Oklahoma. “Our hope for this project is that other brewers (and growers) will see that consumers appreciate, and even gravitate towards, agriculturally holistic products,” says co-owner and brewer Jake Miller. 

For Steen, the key goal is to raise awareness about brewing and drinking intentionally. “If you’re not already intentional in the way that you source your ingredients, consider making one beer a year where you change things up. And each time you make this beer, get a little more intentional about it,” he says. His advice to consumers? “Ask breweries what they’re doing to support producers and suppliers who are environmental stewards, and go out of your way to support breweries that are intentional.”

Earth to Beer releases will be available around the country this April. Find the full list of participating breweries here.

The post Drinking, and Thinking About, More Sustainable Beer appeared first on Modern Farmer.

The human pressures on the river’s resources have come about through a combination of the valley as attractive farmland, significant urban growth and an influx of tourists wanting to hike, boat, bike and bird-watch. The population of Phoenix, which relies on water from a combination of the Verde and Colorado rivers, has grown to 4.75 million in 2024 from 221,000 in 1950, now the fifth largest city in the US, while climate change and agricultural demands have placed additional pressure on the river’s supply. 

Global environmental nonprofit The Nature Conservancy has been working on the Verde River for more than 50 years, and as the issue of low water flow became increasingly critical about 15 years ago, it began working with local communities to effect change and save water. This was the launch of Sinagua Malt, Arizona’s first malt house, a Certified B Corp public benefit corporation, which works by incentivizing farmers to transition from water-intensive summer crops such as corn and alfalfa to barley, by providing them with a stable market and offering local breweries and distilleries the opportunity to use locally sourced malt. This measure has saved more than 725 million gallons of Verde River water between 2016 and 2023, according to data from The Nature Conservancy—or more than 50 gallons per pint of beer.

Kim Schonek and Chip Norton inside the Singua Malt malt house. Photography by Justin Brummer.

Barley to the rescue

It was a 2015 meeting between The Nature Conservancy’s Kim Schonek and the Verde Conservation District’s Chip Norton that resulted in the game-changing plan to conserve the Verde River flow. The idea for Sinagua Malt came about through Schonek’s and Norton’s shared goals, approached from different perspectives. For Schonek, the key objective was elevating flows in the river, along with protecting farmland and ensuring its viability. Having tried fallowing agreements, where farmers were paid not to farm, and drip irrigation, which was hard for farmers to manage in large areas, they needed a new initiative. “We were also looking for a crop that would still be profitable while using significantly less water in the area—and barley was an obvious choice,” explains Schonek. 

Barley is planted in January and February, so it receives a lot of water from the winter rains as it irrigates. It dries out through May and is harvested in June, when the river is at its lowest. Conversely, alfalfa or corn need one foot of water per acre of irrigation during June, which places a significant burden on the river. 

Norton came to the issue of water flow through his work on habitat preservation in the Verde. During this time, Schonek and Norton had both built strong relationships with local farmers, and they were able to convince nearby Hauser Farms to take part. 

The initial test batch of 15 acres of Harrington two-row malt barley was planted and harvested in 2016, but it had to be sent to Austin for malting, as there were no malting houses in Arizona. When the returning malt was tested by local breweries, including Arizona Wilderness and Sedona Brewing, and found to be of saleable, usable quality, Norton and Schonek were left with a conundrum: The transportation costs and environmental impact of sending their barley all the way to Central Texas negated any savings for local farmers and brewers, as well as some of the benefit to the river. They needed to malt closer to the source, and the only way to do that was to build their own malt house.

Chip Norton with some of the barley now grown along the Verde River. Photography submitted. Photography by Justin Brummer.

Learn by doing

“It worked because Chip didn’t expect anyone else to do stuff—he just jumped in and did it. He was willing to be the guy to make it happen,” says Schonek. Norton came out of retirement to start the business. His background as a project manager in water and wastewater plant construction came in handy. “I had a great deal of experience with automated process equipment in my previous career, but I knew nothing about farming or grain processing,” he says. “My training as a maltster was essentially being thrown in the lake and learning to swim. It has been a steep learning curve.” 

After researching technique and recipes through various resources, including the equipment manufacturer and the Craft Maltsters Guild, Norton “just started doing it.” Although Norton says his first batch was “the easiest I’ve ever made,” it wasn’t long before the realities of running a malt house single-handedly set in. “Malting needs cool weather, and there was no air conditioning, which was very challenging in the summer as it was 95 degrees inside—I had to go and buy blocks of ice to throw in the steep water by hand to keep things cool,” he says. There was also a great deal to learn, and batches didn’t always go to plan. Norton says he “learned the correlation between fields that didn’t yield well by quality of barley, so good communication with farmers was crucial. I didn’t have a mentor so I had to self teach—so we learned which fields not to harvest, what techniques gave the best consistency of quality and, over time, we’re making good malt on a small pilot scale.”

Photography by Justin Brummer.

Communication is key

Schonek emphasizes the importance of Norton’s persistence but also of strong communication and integrated goals shared between herself and Norton, the farmers and the brewers. “The brewers’ willingness to try malt that maybe wasn’t the greatest was critical,” she says. Sinagua’s stable of three to four breweries kept them at full capacity, until additional investors funded a new malthouse, which has scaled up production to 1,700 tons from 150 tons per year. Sinagua is now operating at a capacity where it is looking for new farms and new breweries and distilleries to work with. 

The Nature Conservancy measures the change in the Verde River watershed by evaluating the change in crop and how much water each crop uses. It compares the volume of water used to grow barley to that which alfalfa and corn require per acre to see the savings. Measurements are taken during the summer months when the river is at its lowest ebb, and the pair estimates that its initiative has saved 725 million gallons of water. They’ve been able to grow to 610 acres this year from 95 acres of barley produced in 2016. Sinagua Malt now works with five farms, including Hauser, the Yavapai-Apache Nation’s Cloverleaf Ranch and the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community’s Hatler Farm. They estimate they will be able to supply upwards of 25 local breweries and distilleries by the end of 2024.

Schonek says there has definitely been more water in the last few years. “You can go boating again now,” she says, “and we expect the impact on the river to at least triple with the new production facility.”

“It’s a dream come true to have such a meaningful impact on the river flow,” says Norton. However, the pair is keen to highlight that there were things they could have done differently along the way and things that have been essential to making the project work. 

“Looking back, one more year of assessment before launching would have been beneficial,” says Norton. They both emphasize that you can’t second-guess the future, but that thorough planning, communication and responsibility are essential when working with multiple partners. “It is critical to listen to agricultural partners and understand what their options are—and to have partners who are on board with shared goals and willing to take some level of risk but also help them manage that risk,” says Schonek. The Nature Conservancy initially helped farmers manage the risk by offering compensation for failed batches, although this has now ceased. It also played an integral role in getting investment from donors, a process by which both Norton and Schonek had to present the venture as practical and profitable. The pair emphasizes goal alignment with other complementary initiatives, such as Friends of the Verde River’s Verde River Exchange Water Offset Program, to which Sinagua contributes, and The Nature Conservancy’s work on eliminating waste in water conveyance and ground water management to ensure the best possible outcomes. 

When it comes to solving the kind of social and environmental issue that the Verde River flow raised, persistence is the key for Norton. “To achieve results, you have to keep plugging away and not quit—things don’t fall in your lap,” he says. Schonek puts creative problem-solving at the forefront. “We can’t just do what we did last year or what we did a decade ago. We must learn from what we’ve done, scale up and invest in better infrastructure,” she says, highlighting the need for greater funding and policy work across the board. 

The post How Two Committed Conservationists Revitalized a River With Beer appeared first on Modern Farmer.

Since opening up shop in 1986, the Larsons have established Alaskan Brewing as a respected leader of the American craft beer industry, notching up a record 49 wins at the Great American Beer Festival, including 16 gold medals, and distributing to 25 states. But the Larsons don’t just make great beer—they make some of the most environmentally friendly beer on the planet. By using cleverly designed closed-loop systems to conserve and recycle resources and minimize their carbon footprint, the Larsons have effectively eliminated the majority of the waste that brewing creates, repurposing it back into the beer-making process. They call it “beer-powered-beer.”

Accountant Marcy and chemical engineer Geoff moved to Alaska together in 1982. “We were brought here by the beauty of the place—it’s paradise if you love the outdoors,” says Marcy. After a short time living in Gustavus, they moved to Juneau for work, Marcy trading in her seasonal job at Glacier Bay National Park for a role at the Department of Revenue and Geoff working in a gold mine, both spending long hours at work. They fell in love with Juneau. “It’s beautiful and dynamic and very different throughout the year, with deep snowfall in winter, then long days of sun, changing flora and fauna and whales or bears or eagles all around,” says Geoff. 

As the couple looked for a way to spend more time together, Geoff’s success at homebrewing spurred a friend to suggest they open their own brewery. “It started as a bit of a joke, but then began to make sense,” says Marcy. “We had the skills and the opportunity, and Juneau had great clean water and an employment base to support a small business—a lot of things aligned.”

Founders Marcy and Geoff Larson enjoying a beer in the Alaskan Brewing Company Tasting Room. (Photo courtesy Brewers Association)

The Larsons were aware that Juneau’s isolated location would present very specific challenges for them. Tucked between the Gulf of Alaska and steep glacier-filled peaks reaching up to 4,000 feet above sea level, Juneau is remote even by Alaska standards, reachable only by air and sea with no road access. “When we told our malt supplier it needed to travel on an ocean-going container, they were shocked—they’d never done that before!” says Marcy. 

Ensuring a steady, affordable supply of resources and finding workable ways to deal with waste management would require solutions unique to Juneau’s environment. Spurred by a desire to protect the delicate local ecosystem by operating as efficiently as possible and minimizing waste, the Larsons exercised trial, error and innovation to create a brewery that is close to carbon neutral. They managed this by capturing the carbon dioxide created during the brewing process for reuse, reducing water, malt and hop consumption with a mash filter press, and repurposing spent grain as fuel for their patented spent grain steam boiler—unique among US craft breweries. “We had to think of capturing CO2 and spent grain in an unusual fashion because we had no other options,” says Geoff. “Our motivation was to address these challenges in ways that benefit not just ourselves but the local community and the planet.”

Becoming self-sustaining has taken time and a great deal of work. While small-scale CO2 capture reclamation systems are now becoming increasingly common and affordable for craft breweries, back in 1998, this wasn’t the case. “The tech was well established and used by most major international breweries but not by smaller breweries because the equipment is very complex,” explains Geoff. “We approached a supplier for large breweries, Wittemann Co., to ask if they could make a system for smaller breweries, and we were the first small brewery to do this.” By capturing, cleaning and storing the CO2 created naturally during the brewing process, Alaskan hasn’t needed to ship CO2—an important brewing input— into Juneau for the last 25 years, and it has prevented more than a million pounds of CO2 emissions annually. “It’s the circle of beer life,” says Geoff.

Alaskan was also the first US brewery to install a mash filter press, which it imported from Belgium in 2008, long before the recent trend favoring this machinery. “Muera had been making mash filter presses for close to 100 years when we began using one,” says Geoff. “Large breweries used them for their unique efficiency and tech sophistication, but there were no small breweries in North America using them at the time.” The technology uses pressure and cloth filters to maximize the efficiency of the brewing process, meaning that more beer can be brewed with fewer ingredients, including water, malt and hops. Geoff likens the mash filter press to an espresso machine, in comparison to a lauter tun working like a drip coffee maker, extracting a higher-quality and more intense yield while leaving a drier residue. With a sugar extraction yield of more than 98 percent, the use of a mash filter press means Alaskan uses two million fewer gallons of water and 6 percent less malt per year, while making the same quantity of beer.

Production & Brewing Operations Manager Rob Day working at the mash filter press. (Photo courtesy Brewers Association)

Most recently, in 2011, the Larsons created their own bespoke spent grain steam boiler. Prior to this, recycling the large quantities of spent grain leftover from the brewing process was a significant challenge in Juneau. Spent grain is most commonly reused as animal feed, but the lack of farmland nearby meant this wasn’t an option for the Larsons. They refused to dump their spent grain, and they initially distributed it to local kitchen gardens, but as the brewery grew, there was far more spent grain than their neighbors needed, so the Larsons began drying it to export it out of Juneau, as the four-day boat ride was too long to preserve the grains’ integrity when wet. 

From early on, they had wanted to find a way to repurpose this resource within the brewery, but the grains’ high protein made it difficult to burn. For years, Geoff tinkered with different approaches, finally striking gold and patenting his spent grain steam boiler, which uses 100 percent of Alaskan’s spent grain and has replaced 50 percent of the brewery’s fossil fuel use, working in conjunction with the original boiler. The solution came by injecting the dried particles of spent grain into the boiler with an airstream so they burn in suspension and the proteins are denatured and combusted. “We went through about six different generations, each with substantially different combustion configurations, before finding the solution to the challenge—it was a process of educational hard knocks,” days Geoff. The mash filter press also minimizes the amount of drying the grain requires, physically squeezing the mash dry after sparging (rinsing the mash grain for maximum sugar extraction), saving Alaskan even more energy.

This synergy has come to define both the brewery’s outlook and its ability to be self-sustaining, which has become even more important over the last couple of years, as demand for resources, from water to CO2, has surged, bringing increased costs into the industry. “It’s been an interesting change to see how the processes we brought in to focus on sustainability are now yielding economic benefits,” says Geoff. Similarly, growth hasn’t been a problem for Alaskan. “Because our spent grain is our fuel and is directly tied to the amount of beer we make, the amount of energy we need is directly matched by the amount of beer we produce, and same with CO2,” Geoff explains. “The systems are all in sync and there’s no waste.”

A brewer walking in Brite Hall. (Photo courtesy Brewers Association)

Alaskan’s commitment to sustainability extends to its beer formulations, which draw on the state’s brewing heritage and terroir to make distinct, high-quality brews. Its flagship Amber Ale is based on a recipe from the Douglas City Brewing Co., which operated from from 1899 to 1907, during Alaska’s gold rush. Its prized Smoked Porter, winner of 21 awards, is smoked with local alder wood traditionally used to smoke fish, locally sourced Sitka spruce tips feature in its Winter Ale and popular White Ale is made with white wheat harvested nearby.

Alaskan is no longer the only brewery in Juneau, but it has laid a blueprint for how to thrive in a restricted environment and use innovation and technology to improve efficiency and protect the environment. 

For Marcy, tackling these challenges has been a key part of the brewery’s identity. “We didn’t anticipate breaking such new ground, but you have to do things differently in Alaska, it’s a different place with different challenges. We never wanted to be a small local brewery, we wanted to capture the essence of Alaska.”

The post Meet the Alaskan Brewers Making Sustainable Beer in One of the World’s Most Remote Cities appeared first on Modern Farmer.