Sierra Nevada Brewing has a long history of using sustainable technologies at its Chico, California, production facility. In fact, that building was the first to earn a TRUE Zero Waste designation by Green Business Certification, meaning at least 90 percent of its waste is reused or diverted from landfills, says Brian Grossman, Sierra Nevada vice president and son of the company鈥檚 founder. The brewery鈥檚 eastward expansion to a second facility in Mills River, North Carolina鈥攁 small town just south of craft-beer mecca 颅Asheville鈥攑rovided a rare opportunity: the chance to build green from the ground up. 鈥淵ou have to be willing to look at yourself and ask, How can we get better?鈥 he says. 鈥淪o we implemented some unique engineering philosophies. Everything is very straight and linear, which requires a lot less energy. But it鈥檚 also a new construction that allowed us to use new technology.鈥
The result? Three years after the Mills 颅River facility opened in June 2013, it received its own Zero Waste designation and became the first LEED Platinum production brewery in the nation. It鈥檚 the first building in the world to receive both designations. Earning them was no easy feat. Platinum is the highest LEED ranking and requires excellence in least 80 points in categories like transportation infrastructure and light pollution. And being a brewery, Sierra Nevada faced some unique challenges, Grossman says. 鈥淭he energy modeling had never been done before. It took a while to get the engineers to understand the how and why of what we did.鈥
The company isn鈥檛 the only brewery striving for sustainability. At least seven facilities have some level of LEED certification, and others are putting the emphasis on water conservation and advocacy. Which makes sense when you realize that it usually takes six gallons of water to brew one gallon of suds. But Full Sail Brewing in Hood River, Oregon, uses less than three gallons, thanks to special mash filters, a hot-water recovery system, and other innovations, which together reduce its annual water consumption by 4.1 million gallons. On the advocacy side, organizations like the Natural Resources 颅Defense Council鈥檚 Brewers for Clean 颅Water, the Nature Conservancy鈥檚 OktoberForest, and the Oregon Brewshed Alliance foster resources awareness by hosting informational pint nights, organizing volunteer cleanups, and sending letters to Congress. That鈥檚 worth raising a glass to.