Happy Friday everyone!
Kick off one of the last weekends of summer in an eco-friendly way at the Flour City Brewers Fest at the Public Market tonight from 6pm-9pm. The event features hundreds of craft beers, local food trucks, and live music!
How is this event eco-friendly?! The very nature of craft breweries, or independently-owned breweries that produce a limited amount of beer, is environmentally-friendly, especially when compared to larger industrial breweries that have track records of dumping hazardous industrial waste and transporting their products across the globe.
All of the breweries that will be present at the event (with the exception of 4 from OH, MI, PA, and CA) are located in New York State and use locally-grown products in their brewing process. In fact, several of the breweries are members of the NY Farmers Association, which requires, under the Farm Brewing Law, that the beer be made from locally-grown farm products in order for a brewery to be Farm Brewery licensed in NY State. Utilizing local resources is more sustainable than importing resources.
Some breweries that will be providing their specialty beverages at tonight’s event have taken it a step further with their sustainable practices:
- Brown’s Brewing Company, out of Troy, NY, has created the Brown’s Brewing Company Pure Water Campaign. Through this initiative, the brewery donates a portion of their sales for the Tomhannock Pilsner beer to the Rensselear Landtrust, an organization that seeks to protect the watersheds in Rensselear County. This campaign is an effort to keep the local water resources clean and pure.
- Ithaca Beer Co. has teamed with Good Nature Brewing (both present tonight) to collaborate with local farmers, artists, and small local businesses to promote an ecologically-thriving community.
- 1911 uses apples from their very own Beak & Skiff Apple Orchard in Lafayette, NY and take pride in their “From Tree to Bottle” business approach.
A decorated bottle at the Rohrbach Brewery - Rochester’s very own Rohrback Brewing Company donates all spent grain (grains used in the first steps of brewing that still contain nutrients and proteins) to local farmers so that they can be used as cattle feed. To reduce their use of glass, they recycle and reuse growler containers, as well as use Aluminum cans-cans are statistically more recycled by consumers, are less weight to be transported, are more energy cost-effective to recycle, and don’t require paper labels!
If beer isn’t your thing, do not fear! Local food trucks will be present to offer delicious food to all event-goers. If you’re under 21 (the event is strictly 21+ only), you have a great event to look forward to; the Brewers fest is a biannual event (located at the Armory in the winter) that will continue to grow !!
Make the world ever better by exploring your tastes and supporting local, sustainable businesses!
Cheers!!
Written by Ainslee Cunningham, class of 2014
Photo credit: goodbeerfest.com, thedieline.com, thecraftbeergirl.com