Green Beer, Not Just For St. Patty's Day

Here are some quick tips for green beer drinking from treehugger:

1. Drink organic brews
   
   • if there's an organic label, it's certified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which means there are strict regulations for farming the barely and hops
2. Support green beer companies
   
   • some breweries are now solar powered and are moving towards sustainability, like Pale Ale, Sierra Nevada and Anderson Brewery in Chico
3. Drink beer from draught instead of from bottles
   
   • hundreds of beers are held in a keg, so go for the keg and save those bottles and cans
4. Recycle your bottles, cans, and other packaging
   
   • aluminum cans are usually back on the shelf within 60 days and with the bottles they will save 1,300 lbs of sand
5. Reuse the bottle caps
   
   • they are usually thrown aside in the recycling process, so make them have a better use, like a decorative feature or a belt or magnets
6. Try vegan beers
   • some beers have gelatin or isinglass (fish bladder!) to clarify beers without having to put them in the filtration process, which potentially lessens the flavor
     
   
7. Drink local, and  use a growler
   
   • save a little gas and go downtown and save a little more by cutting emissions from shipping imported beers
8. Opt for paper free bottles
   
   • look for the ones with the label printed on the bottle. (These bottles look cooler anyway.)
9. Don't use disposable cups when serving beer
   
   • go with reusable instead; the disposable end up in the landfill!
10. Avoid Big Beer
    
    • like Anheuser Busch or Coors, they have mass demand to supply

Here are some interesting numbers:

- 85% of alcohol consumed in the U.S. by the gallon is beer
- 2 organic beers are made by Anheuser Busch (biggest beer company in U.S.)
- 95% of ingredients that are needed to earn beer an organic certification are certified by USDA
- U.S. is ranked 13 in annual per capita consumption in the world (Czech Republic is #1, Ireland #2, and Finland bet us at #9)
- $25,000,000 organic beer sales in U.S. in 2007
- 4 solar powered breweries in U.S.