Top 8 Green U.S. Breweries (PHOTOS)

August is beer month at HuffPost Green. So first question: how green is the beer you drink? Well, if you drink a Fat Tire or a Sierra Nevada then you're on the right path. These eight breweries lead the pack when it comes to sustainable businesses and their beers are delicious to boot. So sit back, relax and enjoy these beers this summer. Vote for who you think is the green leader and nominate your favorite microbrew or green-leaning beer.

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Hit the participate button, tell us why you love that beer, (if they do green initiatives, all the better!) and mark the area where the beer is brewed by searching for an address in the box on the top right of the map, upload your photo and hit submit. Thank you!

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New Belgium Brewery, Fort Collins, Colorado

This brewery consistently tops brewery lists across the country and there's a good reason why. The company uses renewable wind energy, preventing 8 million pounds of coal from being burned (employees volunteered to pay for the switch), it recycles waste products, uses sustainable lighting and hosts the annual Tour de Fat, a philanthropic bike festival that promotes biking as a viable form of transport.

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Comments

[Virgil Kane]

04:01 PM on 08/15/2009

The dirty little secret about fermentation is that CO2 is the by product. Where is that CO2 released...into the air!! Beer, by it's definition, cannot be green.

[bhougland]

05:58 PM on 08/12/2009

Want to see how New Belgium does it? Here's the video:

http://bit.ly/Eutis

or:

http://www.opto22.com/video/players/ows_player.aspx?bcpid=1378314825&autoStart=true&continuousPlay=false&bctid=14643752001

or:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qGaao3rly4

[Jesse Jenkins]

05:34 PM on 08/12/2009

Hopworks Urban Brewery in Portland, OR should be at the top of your list:

http://www.hopworksbeer.com/

From their website: HUB is Portland’s first Eco-Brewpub to offer all organic handcrafted beers, fresh local ingredients, and a sustainable building with a relaxed and casual atmosphere. Brewmaster Christian Ettinger has spent the past year and half constructing his “dream brewpub.“ HUB incorporates all aspects of sustainability. From composting to rain barrels, and from pervious pavers to hand dryers, we have made every effort to protect “our“ future with a thoughtful alternative. Hopworks has four distinct areas including a family friendly restaurant with play area, a vibrant bicycle bar, banquet mezzanine, and outdoor beer-garden. Our 20 barrel brewery produces 3000 barrels a year and provides our restaurant with ten different HUB organic beers on tap and two cask ales at all times. We have parking for seventy cars, eight motorcycles and up to fifty bikes. Our world-class beer, New York style pizza, and wonderful staff are some of the best you will find anywhere.

Finally, Hopworks is also Oregon's only brewery powered by 100% renewable energy!

And their beers are amazing and award winning, so they definitely don't sacrifice craft brewing quality to make their beer a niche "green" beer.

[pu239]

03:14 PM on 08/12/2009

I think that Sierra Nevada's ranking should be #1. Visit their website to see the full story on their energy production from photovoltaics and their extensive recycling and partnership with CSU Chico's agriculture dept. I work across the street from the brewery and watched them harvest this years local Harvest Ale that will be hitting the streets in a few weeks. Its good to be a local!

[Mark Ginnebaugh]

02:48 PM on 08/20/2009

It gets even better at Sierra Nevada. They turn discarded beer yeast into fuel for their fleet of biofuel trucks. Beer yeast turns into ethanol by use of the revolutionary MicroFueler, manufactured by the EFuel corp out of Paso Robles, CA. Sierra Nevada generates 1.6 million gallons of “bottom of the barrel” beer yeast waste each year, which it now sells to farmers as feed. But going forward, management plans to use MicroFuelers to run their whole fleet of biofuel trucks. Read about it here: http://markginnebaugh.com/blog/?p=747

[Jaywalkker]

12:59 PM on 08/12/2009

I'd wager the greenest brewery is the distributor that wins the contract for that ungodly "green beer" for St. Paddy's Day.

Usually Miller or Coors.

[KeysE2S]

11:39 AM on 08/12/2009

Fat Tire FTW!

[jsarets]

04:38 AM on 08/12/2009

I've lived in three cities in three time zones in the past three years, and an in each city I've found a mini-microbrewery startup that hosts tip-jar happy hours on Friday evenings where the owners serve and talk up their beers to build awareness and network with local bar owners. One had live music.

I got to know the owners very well, and the one thing they have in common is that none of them would do it over again if they could. Their credit and life savings are on the line, and as much as they give it everything they've got, success does not seem to be around the corner. They love what they do, but they don't expect it to last.

Please help these people. Find your local brew startup and help keep the dream alive. Every time you buy the supermarket brands, you push these hard-working, community-supporting entrepreneurs closer to bankruptcy.

[Tom95134]

03:49 AM on 08/12/2009

The ultimate "Green Beer" was bottled by Rolling Rock for the Christmas Season. It was died green and, as I recall it's name was 'Old Frothing Slosh". The thing was started as a gimmick by Reige Cordick, a disk jockey on KDKA as a put on advertisement but got a lot of listener call in and he was able to get Rolling Rock to make it for th Christmas season.

[Tom95134]

03:53 AM on 08/12/2009

Sorry but I had a couple of errors. Here's the link...

>> http://www.rustycans.com/HISTORY/oldfroth.html

[Tom95134]

03:45 AM on 08/12/2009

Somebody should tell the headline writer that the term "Green Beer" was typically used to describe a beer that had not fully matured and was not very drinkable.

[mamacat]

02:19 AM on 08/13/2009

Yes. Homemade beer was often green, too, and with a very high alcohol content.

[tundratraveler]

01:22 AM on 08/12/2009

Another Alaskan brewery to look at is Midnight Sun Brewery. Their planet series is exceptional.

[David Rozgonyi]

01:20 AM on 08/12/2009

I used to live in Fort Collins, Colorado (New Belgium Headquarters and Brewery), and applaud them for their efforts not only in green manufacture but also in the way they treat employees....I think NB also wins awards for being among the best places anywhere to work. They also massively support local arts organizations, and even put a stand up in their tasting hall to help market my first book (I was a local author then)!

For those who like wheat beers, may I please insist you try Mothership Wit! It is my favorite beer of all time, ever and forever.

Cheers!

[BigAl72]

12:04 AM on 08/12/2009

I have tried all of these except Brooklyn Brewing and Fish Brewing beers. Has anyone tried these?

[jsarets]

04:03 AM on 08/12/2009

Brooklyn is pretty good. They have a diverse product line, but in my view they excel in the dark and malty varieties.

[1sparrow]

11:56 PM on 08/11/2009

7 months of unlimited coverage with octomom.

[KeysE2S]

11:40 AM on 08/12/2009

Is you favorite green beer?
I think this is my favorite comment ever. I think...

[Stilts9]

10:57 PM on 08/11/2009

Blatz is the word!

[PepeLepew]

10:50 PM on 08/11/2009

Big Sky IPA! Big Sky Scapegoat Ale!