More and more breweries these days are going green. New Belgium Brewing Company in Fort Collins, CO is at the forefront of green brewing, utilizing solar and wind power, treating their own waste water, and donating 1% of revenue to environmental non profits. Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Chico, CA is also utilizing solar energy, treating their own water, recycling everything possible, and working on reducing emissions until they are generating 100% of their power. Head north to Hood River, OR and you will find Full Sail Brewing Company working on green initiatives, including a 4 day work week!

Solar arrays on the roof of Sierra Nevada Brewing Company

The list of breweries that are going green is increasing all the time. I could sit here and hash out what all different breweries are doing, but The Huffington Post has a nice article on some of their favorite green breweries out there. What I want to talk about briefly instead is the effect some of these larger breweries may be having on smaller breweries. Just over a half mile away from New Belgium lies Odell Brewing Company, which just activated a new solar array (less than one week after New Belgium expanded theirs).

The PV solar array, installed by Wirsol Solar Colorado Inc., is comprised of 384 General Electric crystalline silicon 200 Watt panels on about 11,000 square feet of rooftop. The PV array produces a total of 77 kilowatts, which will account for 39 percent of the brewery’s peak demand. Odell stressed that they packed as many panels onto the roof as would fit.

I can’t say for certain that green breweries are rubbing off on other ones, but the fact that more and more breweries are going green is encouraging and awesome. So next time you may be debating between a few different beers, maybe how breweries behave will be the deciding factor in your choice!

We're counting down to Christmas with 12 beers that resonate with the feel of the holiday. Some beers were nice; some beers were naughty. This is The 12 Beers of Christmas. Enjoy!

Kerkom Brewery in Belgium

Merry Christmas Eve! I hope you all have your shopping done, and if you don’t check out all the beers of Christmas (except that Winter’s Bourbon Cask Ale) and jet down to the local beer store to get yourself those final stocking stuffers, or just a few more gifts to fill out under the tree. The delightful beer treat for today is the Winter King, more commonly known as Winterkoninkske. The brewers over at Kerkom Brewery are trying to bring hops back to Belgian brewing with this tasty winter ale.

he Kerkom brewery is a family operation built into a rambling farmhouse surrounded by Belgium’s best cherry orchards. Brewer Marc Limet, saddened by the gradually decreasing interest in hoppy traditional beers among Belgian breweries, has determined single-handedly to bring hops back into Belgian brewing.

Sounds pretty good huh? A fairly high octane (8.3 ABV) winter beer that departs from the typical malty sweetness and delves into the wonderful world of hops. The Winterkoninkske was clearly an unfiltered beer (if its been on the shelf for a while, you may consider leaving the last ounce in the bottom of the bottle) and poured a hazy, watered down coffee color. Steffen described it as the color of “light mud-water from the Red Rocks .” The dark brew gave off a “sniffy” of primarily alcohol, but with sweet vanilla notes as well as some hints of pear.

What a gorgeous place for a brewery!

This Belgian brew tasted about like you would expect from the nose. Strong enough to keep you warm at night with full tones of sweet fruit (i’m thinking pear or apple, definitely not citrus) and a small finish of bitter hops that lingers for a few seconds. Overall, the Winterkoninkske was a tasty enough beer, but as for bringing the hops back to Belgium? I think it fell a little short. After reading the description, I expected a fair punch of hops, nothing like an IPA or APA, but at least something to pucker up my lips for under that mistletoe. No such luck here guys! Would I drink it again? Yes, I could drink some more of this, but not at the five bucks a bottle it goes for in Helena.

Last Thursday marked special day for beer lovers in Montana. The legal alcohol limit in beer was increased to 14 percent alcohol by volume, allowing brewers and retailers to sell more potent beers such as barley wines and many new imperial brews. Representative Deb Kottel of Great Falls, a proponent of the HB400 (the bill that changed the legal limit for beer),  argued for the change, claiming “Montana has the potential to become the Napa Valley of beer.” In Helena, HB400 going into effect meant the release of an imperial bitter (9.18ABV) and a barley wine (10.9ABV) at the Blackfoot River Brewery. I’m wondering what sort of other delicious beers Montana Breweries now have to offer, although I’m sure I’ll see a number of them at the upcoming MBA Oktoberfest. If you have been out and about and tried something great at your local brewery, let us know!

“We have everything in place now to make this a beer Mecca. We have the malt; we now have our very first hop grower,” Topper of Helena said. “This is a micro revolution. We’ve got everything that we need right here and right now.”

The rumor mill has been grinding away here the past couple of days in Helena, and word has it that the Lewis and Clark Brewing Company is changing locations. It is allegedly moving from its current location to the old Columbia Paint building on the corner of Argyle Street and Dodge Avenue in Helena, MT.