So anytime I tell people that I did a project on sustainable brewing, I have to reach back into pitch mode and sell them on the idea that beer (and any product) can be made more sustainably, using less water, gas and energy. Once people are willing to go along with me on that — remember, we’re probably holding some beers at the time — they ask how they can tell which beers are more sustainable.

At this point, I have to go into another thing — well, I’ll say, the easiest way to figure it is how far it came from and what it came in. Did you buy it from within your own county and in a reusable container? (We Greengroggers threw a party last night featuring growlers of beers from Brooklyn, where we live.) That’s the best way. But there are other things, and you should read up on your — Zzzzzz. They’re asleep.

Lucky for me, there may be a new explanation coming right up. Sapporo, the Japanese brew, is reportedly starting to use carbon footprint labeling!

From My Green Element:

According to Environmental Leader, next year, Sapporo, a Japanese beer company, will start labeling its beer bottles with the amount of carbon emissions associated with production and disposal. Japan’s Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry is working on standardizing how carbon can be measured and labeled on consumer products.

In the UK, the Carbon Trust, a government-funded independent company, is developing a similar scheme, set to launch in the coming months. According to their site, companies like Coors and Coca-Cola will add the carbon label.

Of course, I don’t believe for a second that imported cans of Sapporo will say how many pounds of carbon they’re responsible for on their way to, say, New York. But maybe it’s a start.

Can beer make a difference in New York City neighborhood known for (among other things) being a bit polluted? I don’t know, but it’s worth a shot, right?

Hunts Point, in the Bronx, is a neighborhood with pollution problems in a borough with pollution problems.

Well, now that some of that InBev scare has passed, Anheuser-Busch has a little positive press. The American macrobrewer got a grant from the EPA to install a certain type of filtration device on trucks that will reduce their emissions by 70-80 percent, according to a press release.

How many trucks? Fifteen, all in the Hunts Point fleet. So. It’s a start, but A-B could probably be doing more than merely accepting the $150,000 — like matching it. That would be another start. Imagine: 30 whole trucks, emitting the greenhouse gases of, uh… let’s see, take 30 percent of 30 and… nine trucks!

Why, imagine if a company had the notion to do this to all of its trucks!

Well, as the new Web site nears completion — sort of — we figured it was time to put out a new map. This map shows breweries within 250 miles of New York City, since we’re here in New York and distribution is arguably the biggest impact on a brew’s carbon footprint. We haven’t included brewpubs or the like, just for simplicity. If we’ve missed a brewery, let us know!

Well, GreenGrog split up for the holidays to tour two breweries — I hit New Belgium Brewing in Fort Collins, Colo. and Kenan went to Pisgah Brewing in Black Mountain, N.C. We’ll incorporate what we learned into neato-keen Web presentations later, but I just want to say that my visit to New Belgium left me pretty blown away by the number of things that breweries can do to be more sustainable, as well as by the impression I got from Bryan Simpson, my tour guide, that a lot of breweries are doing pretty well.

I was minding my own business today, reading an article about sustainable lunar living, and I actually took a second to think, hey, some of this sounds like what New Belgium might do. Or Sierra Nevada. Or maybe a bunch of other breweries.

This blog has been a wonderful learning tool for us, so if you know of breweries out there with impressive sustainable efforts (or, heck, deplorable sustainable efforts), do let us know in the comments. Thanks and happy holidays!

Westvleteren beer is ranked the best beer in the world by Rate Beer and Beer Advocate, but it’s limited in quantity and difficult to find.

A recent Wall Street Journal article, “Trappist Command: Thou Shalt Not Buy Too Much of Our Beer,” described how the monks at St. Sixtus monastery are fighting to stave off an unquenchable demand.

The monks are doing their best to resist getting bigger. They don’t advertise and don’t put labels on their bottles. They haven’t increased production since 1946. They sell only from their front gate. You have to make an appointment and there’s a limit: two, 24-bottle cases a month. Because scarcity has created a high-priced gray market online, the monks search the net for resellers and try to get them to stop.

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