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BANG FOR THE BITE
A stein (or two, or three) of local lager won't halt climate change, but as long as you're drinking, it's by all benchmarks the better choice.
COCKTAIL FACT
Bill Coors invented the recyclable aluminum can after an ecologist showed him photos of a discarded steel Coors can stuck in the Colorado tundra.
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home › tip library › Local Beer
Are you ale-ing?
The Bite
The best cure's right outside your door: drinking locally produced beer's an eco-friendlier way to get your malted hops fix. Next time you don your beer goggles, make sure you don't, um, hop into bed with just anyone.The Benefits
- Support for your local economy. Keep some of your money circulating in your hometown.
- Better taste. Crafted in smaller batches, microbrews offer more varied flavors than the average 6-pack from 7-Eleven.
- Energy savings. Most of our food and drink travels between 1,500 and 2,500 miles before going down our gullets. Less mileage means less energy use.
- Drinking what's on tap saves aluminum and glass bottles.
Personally Speaking
The Bozeman Biter Team's favorite Friday group activity is going to the "tasting center" to sample great Bozone microbrews, then leaving with a growler.Wanna Try?
- BrewPubZone - lists brewpubs and microbreweries in all 50 states.
- Fermenting Revolution - this book explains the sustainable roots of beer and what brewers are doing today to go green ($15). Check out the author's blog here.
- Seven Bridges Cooperative - info on home brewing with organic ingredients.
May 30,2007
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All editorial suggestions in this tip are the result of testing and a preference for the tip topic. No advertiser has paid to have its company referenced in the tip. For more information, please read our Editorial Policy.
Mecca for Microbrew-Lovers
Beer is my favorite drink, hands down, and it was one of the reasons why parting Portland, OR, last August was such sweet sorrow. The town has more microbreweries than anywhere else in the country -Bridgeport, McMenamin's, Full Sail, Hair of the Dog, Widmer, you name it - living in Portland you really have no need to consume beer produced outside of a 25-mile radius of Mt. Tabor.
The place is also home to the only movie theaters I know of, outside of Asheville, NC, where you can order a pitcher of microbrew before you take in a second-run movie. I miss you, PDX, and promise to return soon!
-Toshio...off to drink some of my new local microbrew, SF's Anchor Steam...
Biter Comments...
I second Jill's comment. Brew your own! It's easy. To quote Charlie Papazian: Relax...Have a homebrew.
If you prefer your beer crafted by other hands, most smaller scale breweries work with local farms to "process" their spent wort (feed it to pigs, lucky pigs).
I agree with Jill and appreciate the tip's pointer to 7-Bridges. I brew organic beer at home and love the ability to make exactly what I want while drinking sustainably. Can't find an organic Oktoberfest or raspberry wheat? Brew it yourself! And homebrewers are never at a loss for friends! ;-)
Toshio: I visited Portland last fall and fell in love with the area--mass transit, vegetarian-friendly, beautiful scenery... and the most incredible selection of local brews imaginable! Don't forget Roots and Laurelwood, two places with some tasty organic brews. And coming up on June 8 & 9 is the North American Organic Brewers Festival (http://www.naobf.org/). Yes, Portland truely is Beervana.
You can also get a pitcher of frothy local brews from the Abbey theatre in downtown Durango, CO. Durango, by the way, has a handful of great local brewpubs and microbreweries with downtown venues: Carver Brewing Company, Durango Brewing Company, Ska Brewing Company, and Steamworks Brewing Company. It is a beer drinker's skiier's mountain lover's paradise. Maybe not Beervana, but it has been called the "Napa Valley of Beer."
Great tip - I'm a beer lover and really appreciate the local product wherever it can be found, but um, it's the barley that's malted, not the hops.
Greg - how could I forget Roots? I spent every Tuesday summer of 2006 there for their $2.50 Tuesdays.
For those stopping in Portland anytime soon, here's their website: http://www.rootsorganicbrewing.com/
And of course let's not forget New Belgium beers, proud brewers of Fat Tire, out of Fort Collins Colorado, the only wind-powered brewery in the US.
Upstate New York has some very good local breweries. I'm not sure how many are organic, but i do like supporting the local economy and knowing where my beer came from. It's delicious besides :)
lol... funny because my friends are I were discussing this the other day and I was going to do a blog post about it. Well thanks for the 411... I will have to reference you now.. :)
http://jollygreengirl.org
The Boulder Theater in Boulder, CO, shows movies and you can drink Mountain Sun Pub brews while you watch!
The Bear Tooth in Anchorage, Alaska is another great theater/pub to check out! Not only can you order a pitcher of excellent beer, but fabulous food as well, and they'll deliver it to your theater-style table in the dark!
This is so cool! I had never heard of a movie theater where you could order beer (what can I say, I'm sheltered), so this entry and all the comments are great. We had thought of moving to Portland; it seems like our kind of place, but we love sunshine.
Going to Asheville, NC this summer, so I'll have to look up that theater. Asheville is actually the town that inspired me to become a vegarian, so I'm excited to go back!
Thanks for all you do, guys!
Oops, vegetarian. Silly me
Try a local movie house with good beer on tap- The Parkway in Oakland!!
www.picturepubpizza.com
PHOTO ALBUMS
Posted by: jill | May 30, 2007 at 05:09 AM