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Ma Yanjun, a Chinese peasant and carpenter, of Qiqiao village, Shaanxi Province has made a solar water heater - using only beers bottles and hoses. How does it work? Well, The beer bottles lie on a board in rows and are all connected by hoses, which allow cold water to flow through them. As the bottles and board lie outside, the heat from the sun warms the water in the bottles. The warm water can then be used for showers, or meals, or most anything we use hot water for.

“I invented this for my mother. I wanted her to shower at any time more comfortably,” says Yanjun.

According to Pakistan’s Daily Times, since his invention, Ma has helped more than 20 families in the village to make and install their own beer bottle solar water-heaters. He told the paper he will build a public bathroom for the village using his invention when he has the money to buy enough beers.

Great to see some creative and “green” uses for all the beer bottles we tend to empty. Well done, Yanjun!

Source: “Beer bottle solar heater” [Daily Times]

Popularity: 2% [?]

Vermont’s Long-Trail Brewing Co. made one heck of an Earth Day announcement - it appears they have signed a contract to become the largest commercial customer of Cow Power, a program from Central Vermont Public Service Corp. that produces electricity from cow manure. Long Trail’s Brian Walsh told the Burlington Free Press,

“We actively seek ways to reduce the impact Long Trail has on its local surroundings… We believe CVPS Cow Power provides great environmental benefits while creating much needed opportunities for Vermont farm owners.”

Although the program will raise Long Trail’s electric bill by about $10,000 a year, the company says the juice is well worth the squeeze. The Cow Power purchase will have an environmental impact that is the equivalent to taking 106 cars off the road. According to Central Vermont Public Service Corp. President Bob Young,

“Their commitment will be the equivalent to capturing the CO2 emissions from burning 65,834 gallons of gasoline annually.”

For more on Long Trail’s Cow Power Purchase, as well as the other strides the brewery has taken to offset their environmental impact, read this article from the Burlington Free Press or visit the Long Trail website.

Technorati Tags: beer, Central Vermont Public Service Corp., Cow Power, Long Trail Brewing, Earth Day

Popularity: 13% [?]

They’re portable - perfect for tailgating, camping, golf (ball, or Frisbee), the beach or the kid’s lunch box (I kid, I kid); they’re 100% recyclable; and they block sunlight and oxygen better than bottles. I’m talking about cans, of course.

But canned beer carries a very negative stigma with it - when canning beer became a popular option in the 1960s, the cans were poor in quality and the canning technology was certainly not where it is today. The result was beer that tasted more like aluminum than barley & hops.

Ever since, even though the technology has changed for the better, and canned beer no longer tastes like cans, the only beer commonly found in cans has been 30-racks from the “big 3″. So it’s not hard to see why cans have gotten such a bad wrap. But all of that is beginning to change.

A number of well-known American craft breweries have begun to can their beers - Colorado-based New Belgium Brewing Co. announced last week that they would release their flagship Fat Tire Amber Ale — one of the most popular craft beers in the country — in cans by summer. The 21st Amendment Brewery in San Fransisco will also soon be canning their beers; test marketing cans of their “Brew Free or Die IPA” and “Hell or High Watermelon” watermelon wheat by the 4th of July. And Uncommon Brewers, a Santa Cruz-based brewery which will open its doors this summer, will open having canned all of its beers. According to The Mercury News, the certified organic brewery had planned “to do Belgian-inspired beers and put them out Belgian-style, in corked bottles” but opted for less expensive, 100% recyclable cans after receiving their organic certification.

The craft beer canning revolution was started by Oskar Blues Brewing Co, who began canning their beers in the fall of 2002 as a joke - but that soon changed. Dale Katechis, founder of Oskar Blues Brewing in Colorado, told realbeer.com in 2003 that,

Right now, our goal is to change the perception in the industry about what you can sell in cans, and with drinkers about what kind of beer is sold in cans.

We went to the Great Arizona Beer Festival and did side-by-side tastes tests — out of bottles and out of cans. A lot of beer geeks went “What is this?” and they were blown away. The first thing they said is, “This is real beer, this isn’t something that was made just to sell in cans.”

All of the breweries listed above get their cans from the same place - Cask Brewing Systems Inc., based in Calgary, Alberta. Cask Brewing offers craft brewers like Oskar Blues small-scale packaging systems, using cans from aluminum can producer Ball Corp. which have a water-based coating, so the beer doesn’t touch aluminum. Today Cask has nearly four dozen customers canning beer in North America, up from one — Oskar Blues — in 2002.

It may be awhile before craft beer drinkers fully embrace craft beer cans around the country, but I can tell you from personal experience that one can from Oskar Blues and they’ll be signing a different tune. Here’s to the canning revolution!

Technorati Tags: beer, canned beer, Cask Brewing Systems, Oskar Blues, Fat Tire Amber Ale, New Belgium Brewing

Popularity: 16% [?]

By now many of you know that Peak Organic Brewing — a local Portland, Maine brewing company which contract brews certified organic beer at the Shipyard facilities — has released a new spring beer: Maple Oat Ale. The three other year-round beers from Peak don’t do too much for me (they’re not bad by any stretch, just not overly exciting) but I really enjoyed this one.

Available in either 12oz 4-packs or 22oz bombers, Peak’s Maple Oat Ale is a light copper-colored ale brewed with Maine-grown organic oats from granola company GrandyOats and Vermont-produced organic maple syrup from Butternut Mountain Farms in Morrisville, Vermont.

This beer pours a dark golden/light copper color with very little head retention (probably due to the high amounts of maple syrup in the boil). The Maple Oat Ale has a sweet malt taste and a smoother-than-normal mouthfeel — thanks largely to the oats — while it finishes with a distinct (but not overpowering) maple syrup sweetness.

I would definitely consider this my favorite of the Peak family and I hope they choose to keep it around for awhile (right now it’s only slated for the spring season). It is one of the easier drinking beers I’ve had in a long time; my 22oz bomber was gone not long after I realized I had even opened it. but, at a modest 5.2% ABV, that wasn’t a problem and there was certainly room left for more. But I think that Geoff Masland, Peak Organic Partnership Maestro, summed up the best part of this beer quite nicely in the company’s official press release which accompanied the beer’s release:

“We’ve collaborated with great folks to produce more than just a delicious craft beer, but also a positive experience from start to finish, farm to glass.”

For more on Peak Organic Brewing, read my interview with its founder Jon Cadoux from September ‘07.

Technorati Tags: beer, organic, Peak Organic, Maine, Vermont

Popularity: 18% [?]

First, for any new readers unfamiliar with The Session, an explanation:

“The Session, a.k.a. Beer Blogging Friday, is an opportunity once a month for beer bloggers from around the world to get together and write from their own unique perspective on a single topic. Each month, a different beer blogger hosts the Session, chooses a topic and creates a round-up listing all of the participants, along with a short pithy critique of each entry… The idea for the Sessions began with fellow beer writer Stan Hieronymus, who noticed similar group endeavors in other blogospheres and suggested those of us in the beer world create our own project.”

Okay, so I’ve been trying to think of an Organic Beer-related post for the March Session since it was announced nearly a month ago and was completely drawing a blank. I didn’t want to do just another Peak Organic review but nothing was coming to mind. So, when I got an email from Peter Egelston – the owner of Smuttynose Brewery in Portsmouth, NH – yesterday with details about their long-rumored new facility, I decided I could stretch the topic a wee-bit and include the Green Beer Movement (no, not the St. Patty’s Day kind).

Smuttynose has reached a P&S agreement on a beautiful fourteen-acre site located on Towle Farm Road, and are working their way through the design and permitting process. If all goes according to plan, a shovel will be in the ground in early 2009 and they will move into the new brewery in 2010.

What does this have to do with Organic Beer and The Session, you ask? Well, the reason for the move, Peter stressed, is that their present building is extremely inefficient in terms of energy usage, and Smuttynose would like to create a more sustainable facility. So that’s exactly what they’ve decided to do:

The Towle Farm site is an old farmstead which has many beautiful, natural features that we’re committed to preserving. We’ve registered our project for LEED certification and plan to incorporate as many innovative technologies as we can, including geothermal heating and cooling, co-generation, gray water recovery systems and a low impact development site design.

To read more about the amazing changes happening at Smuttynose, read this article from The Wire or this from the Portsmouth Herald. Great news for a great brewery and a great group of people – what better way to celebrate The Session? Thanks to Chris O’Brien at the Beer Activist Blog for hosting!

Popularity: 19% [?]

Nipping at the heels of the announcement for the topic for the March Session, the news surfaced today that The Lucky Lab Brew Pub in the other Portland (anyone who doubts that Portland, OR is the other Portland - remember that it was named after Portland, Maine!) is now brewing solar beer.

The brewpub has installed a solar panel thermal system on their roof which is being used to heat the water used in their brewing process. While the system cost a whopping $70,000, the pub’s owner is sure it will have paid for itself in the matter of just a few years.

So, what is the brewery doing to celebrate? Brewing a Solar Beer, of course.
(image by portlandbeer.org)

Technorati Tags: going green, sustainable, beer, Lucky Lab Brewing, Portland Oregon

Popularity: 20% [?]

Just a few briefs to get you through the painstakingly slow hours between now and the game tonight. For starters, Jay Brooks at the Brookston Beer Bulletin has posted a link to a map of the USA made from beer labels, each representing the state of its origin. While some of them are hard to decipher, it’s fun to try. How many can you name? (click the photo for a larger version and the answers)

Next, just in time for Valentine’s Day - a recipe for decedent cream cheese & dark chocolate marble brownies with a secret ingredient to set them apart from any other brownie you might whip up in the coming weeks - 1 1/4 cups of stout beer! Click here for the full recipe, from the Northwest Herald in Illinois.

And lastly - just as soon as the February Session (my entry) wraps up (the complete overview), the topic for March’s Session has been posted. Next month’s entries are sponsored by Chris O’Brien over at The Beer Activist and the topic - Organic Beer. According to Chris,

Lots of brewers use Certified Organic malt and/or hops but have not had their facilities and processes certified. Legally and in practical fact these beers are not organic and are prohibited from being marketed as organic. But for this Session, it’s up to you to decide what to count as organic.

If the announcement alone is any indication, March is going to be a great month for The Session (and will see my 2nd entry ever). Be sure and check back on March 7th for more.

Enjoy the game (and some beers to go with it) everyone; Go Pats!

(image by jackncokewithlime)

Technorati Tags: Super Bowl, stout beer, Valentine’s day, brownie recipe, beer

Popularity: 20% [?]

Today marked the beginning of Maine’s oft-annual January Thaw and temperatures reached 41 degrees (and they say it should read 50 on Tuesday). To celebrate, we got up early and headed to Shawnee Peak for a down-right perfect day of hitting the slopes. The conditions were excellent and we returned home this evening sore in all the right ways.

To cap the day off, I settled in this evening with a 22 oz bomber of Barleywine from nearby Smuttynose Brewery in Portsmouth, NH. This is one of the tastiest Barleywines I’ve had; it features a nice, modest 7% ABV — unusually tame for a Barleywine — so you can have plenty. There is a gorgeous off-white pillowing thick head when poured, which quickly disappears. There are very strong fruit esters with a touch of caramelizing, grain and a pinch of hop on the nose. A tad on the sweet side, the mouthfeel — which is both creamy and chewy — boats a fantastic cocktail of esters (pear & date, maybe? I’m not great at differentiating the flavors) and citrusy hop flavours which end with a dry, grain aftertaste. With an overall rating of B+, plenty of BAers agree that this is a truly fantastic brew.

Elsewhere on the good news beer front, Standing Stone Brewing Company of Ashland, OR has begun working towards a “zero net energy” (making or saving more energy than you use) goal. Although admittedly a long way off,

Says owner Alex Amarotico, it’s sound business, and good for the planet, to take every step to shrink carbon output.

For more on the changes being made at the brewery to better our environment, click here to read the news from the Southern Oregon Mail Tribune.

Technorati Tags: Smuttynose Brewing Co., Shawnee Peak, January Thaw, Barleywine, beer, Standing Stone Brewing Co., Going Green

Popularity: 13% [?]

New Belgium Brewing made a lot of news in 2007 — from their wildly popular Fat Tire Amber Ale, to their on-going efforts to make brewing sustainable. Well 2008 seems to be no different. The famous Colorado brewery’s flagship beer suddenly has another characteristic: It’s now a key ingredient in an environmentally friendly form of fish food. 

According to Wyoming’s Casper Star-Tribune, the aquaculture company Oberon FMR has teamed with the Colorado School of Mines and New Belgium to brew up its “fish meal replacement” at a pilot production plant at New Belgium in Fort Collins.

The pilot facility will feed and convert the protein-laden bacteria already swarming in New Belgium’s brewing wastewater. The goal: to change that bacteria into a protein-rich biomass.

The resulting Jell-O-like goop will be dried into granules and added to fish feed, reducing the need for fish meal in the feed.

“You’re taking what was previously a waste and turning it into fish food,” said John Spear, assistant professor of environmental science and engineering at the Colorado School of Mines.

Spear noted the process could be duplicated with wastewater flowing from other food-related plants such as those making soy milk or jam.

Forty-three percent of fish that people eat worldwide come from aquaculture, according to a 2006 report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, so any steps that can be made to make an otherwise pretty environmentally detrimental process a little more sustainable is very much welcome.

Just another notch in the New Belgium belt.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Technorati Tags: New Belgium Brewing, Fat Tire Amber Ale, sustainable, beer, Oberon FMR, aquaculture

2007 was certainly a big year for the beer world. Small, independent brewers have experienced tremendous growth across the country (while, thankfully, sales at the “big three” have remained relatively flat); there has been an explosion in the “green” and organic brewing sector; the popularity of homebrewing continues to rise; on a much sadder note - beer lost one of its greats, and much more. So, what will 2008 bring? Here are some predictions:

1. The price of beer will go up

A pretty obvious one for anyone who has been paying attention. The price of both hops & barley have skyrocketed by as much as 400%. The result will be increased prices for the consumer across the board (it’s not just craft breweries, the huge commercial breweries will be affected too); some are reporting increases of $0.50-$1.00 per six-pack. The question at this point isn’t “will the price of beer go up?” but rather “by how much?”

2. There will be more breweries “going green”

It started happening in 2007 - breweries like Sierra Nevada, Stone Brewing, Michigan Brewing Co., Peak Organic, New Belgium, and many more all took strides towards sustainability this year. I’ve already been told to expect the same from Smuttynose Brewing Co. in Portsmouth, NH some time in 2008. With the current national trend towards “going green” such as it is, it seems rather obvious that more and more breweries will jump on the bandwagon this coming year (which isn’t a bad thing, by any stretch).

3. The giant breweries will mimic the little guys 

As craft beer sales continue to rise, and the sales of the major breweries remain stagnant, you will see more “craft beer-style” releases from the major breweries - either under their own name (which Miller is set to do), or psydonyms (as Anheuser Busch already does). In fact,

Miller Brewing Company in early February will begin test-marketing Miller Lite Brewers Collection, a family of three craft-style light beers.

The lineup includes a blonde ale, an amber and a wheat — each with significantly fewer calories and carbs than typical beers of that style.

As the year progresses, the giant breweries will continue to fight for a piece of the growing craft pie and will do so with releases such as the ones from Miller, so keep your eyes peeled.

Where do you see beer going in ought eight?

Technorati Tags: beer, going green, hops, craft beer,  beer news, 2008

Popularity: 13% [?]