On National Beer Day, A Look at Sam Adams, Sierra Nevada, and the Breweries That Are Making A Difference

Saturday marks America’s 79th National Beer Day. The unofficial tradition dates back to 1933, when Franklin D. Roosevelt legalized the sale of beer (with 4.0% abv or less) after 13 beerless years of Prohibition. That year, Americans across the country waited outside bars and breweries for the stroke of midnight on April 7th to once again purchase the legalized libation.

Sierra Nevada: The brewery relies on solar panels, hydrogen fuel cells, and recovered biogas to generate 80% of its energy, and is targeting 100%. They have programs in place for recycling, CO2 recovery, water conservation, greenhouse gas reduction, and composting. They also use spent vegetable oil from their restaurants as biodiesel and hybrid electric trucks to transport their brews, and encourage employees to commute on bikes. They’ve won the Waste Reduction Awards Program from the state of California every year since 2001. Oh, and here’s an award from the EPA.

There are many other craft and microbreweries out there that are environmentally conscious and green. The combination of craft beer and sustainability (and flannel) seem to go well together. Check out Full Sail, Maui Brewery, and Odell just to name a few others.