E-Malt.com News article: USA: New Belgium Brewing Co. seek out ways to further reduce its environmental impact

USA-based New Belgium Brewing Co. is driven by a philosophy that being a sustainable business is a constantly evolving process and one that is never truly finished. One of the most environmentally progressive breweries in the country, New Belgium continues to evaluate its operations and seek out ways to further reduce its environmental impact.

Two years ago, the brewery—best known for its Fat Tire brand—opened a new US$26 million eco-friendly bottling and packaging facility. The first brewery in the US to use wind-generated electricity, New Belgium made a 10-year commitment to buy all its electricity through the city-sponsored wind program. Seven years ago, the company completed installation of its own process water treatment facility, which has enabled it to clean water used for brewing and cleaning in its facility without putting any stress on the municipal system.

According to Kim Jordan, CEO and co-founder, along with her husband Jeff Lebesch, of New Belgium Brewing, the company is installing solar panels on the roof of its 50,000-square-foot packaging hall, which contains the company’s bottling plant. When complete, the 200-kilowatt photo voltaic solar electric system will be one of the largest private solar installations in the state. The US$1 million installation, which will be complete in November, is part of a Department of Energy grant through the FortZED project. The DOE grant will reimburse the brewery up to 45 percent of its expenses.

Beyond its sustainability efforts, New Belgium can toast to another solid year of growth, thanks to ongoing consumer interest in the craft beer movement. Mid-year 2009 figures put the brewery up 6.8 percent from last year, while the overall craft segment is up 5 percent at mid-year, according to the Brewer’s Association.

“Our pace has slowed down slightly, which is an indicator of the economy, but the more mainstream beer segment is flat at the mid-year, so that’s a pretty good sign that the higher-end beer segment and the specialty segment are continuing to grow the fastest,” Jordan remarks.

New Belgium, which was founded in 1991 with a focus solely on producing Belgian-style beers, is on target to sell about 560,000 barrels of beer this year. While Fat Tire is the flagship brand, New Belgium also brews a number of other Belgian-inspired beers, including Abbey, a dubbel, Sunshine Wheat, Mothership Wit, Blue Paddle, Trippel and 1554, which is a Belgian black beer style dating back to its namesake year. New Belgium also produces a few seasonal beers, like Skinny Dip, and has expanded its core line with a series of small batch brews developed to mark special milestones. These “playground beers,” as the brewery calls them, are named Lips of Faith and are packaged in 22-ounce screened bottles. Beers in this series include Le Fleur Misseur, a bottle conditioned beer with the brewery’s special house strain of Brettanomyces (wild ale) yeast, Transatlantique Kriek, a spontaneously fermented lambic ale made with Polish cherries and Dandelion Ale.

“Drinkers are interested in beers changing pretty regularly so we’re doing our part to keep up with that,” Jordan says.

New Belgium also has been collaborating with other craft brewers to make small batch beers, such as Trippel IPA, a Belgian-inspired India Pale Ale, and Trip II brewed through a partnership with Elysian Brewing. The Trip beers are only available on draft in the Northwest.

“We’re working steadily on innovation and collaboration with our friends in the brewing industry so it’s another year for craft beer,” she says.

A major initiative taken on by the brewer was the installation of a canning line last year in partnership with Ball Corp. for packaging Fat Tire and Sunshine Wheat beers. Craft beer in cans is a fairly new phenomenon, yet Jordan believes the cans address a consumer need as consumers can drink Fat Tire and Sunshine Wheat in places they can’t take glass bottles. At the same time, aluminum cans tie in with New Belgium’s green mission as cans are 100 percent recyclable and transport lighter than glass.

The brewer also is expanding its distribution and gained six new states as part of its distribution footprint this spring and is now currently available in 27 states.




16 September, 2009