Brooklyn Brewery brewmaster Garrett Oliver had a quick op-ed in yesterday’s NYT about big beer vs. small beer. It begins thusly:

JUST 10 years ago, the proposed merger of SABMiller and Molson Coors into MillerCoors would have worried craft brewers. Back then, “American beer” was thought of as a cheap product with very little beer flavor. But today the United States has by far the most exciting beer culture in the world, and America’s 1,500 craft brewers are undaunted by the prospect of a juggernaut that would have 30 percent of the domestic market. The age of American industrial brewing is over.

Over! Pretty bold, Mr. Oliver. We GreenGroggers oughtta get out there and take the Saturday tour at the brewery soon. We heard they used to have an organic brew. Plus, we heard there’s beer there.

Some of the questions we want to ask brewers about sustainability efforts go like this: Is it cost-effective (or even profitable) to be doing all of this environmentally-conscious stuff? Or is it a hassle? And is it worth it?

Happily, there is a Business Week story on this right now. And the verdict, via Aspen Skiing and that company’s environmental czar, Auden Schendler, isn’t as cheery and uplifting as I had, for some reason, come to expect. (Oh, marketing!) I mean. It is, but it isn’t. What? OK, see for yourself: (more…)

Well. The merger, right? It’s happening. What does it mean for people who like their beer to be clean and green? Don’t know. But here’s what we can discern from, you know, materials on their Web sites.

Coors has an interesting environmental history including — and I definitely didn’t know this — offering one cent for each returned aluminum can starting in 1959, when they say they started the trend of commercially-produced canned beverages.

Can this be true? Any nay-sayers out there? Other interesting highlights of the Coors environmental press package: (more…)

Today, we talk to Sierra Nevada Brewing in Chico, Calif. You probably know them best for their widely-distributed pale ale. Cheri Chastain, sustainability coordinator, answers our questions (far more completely than the excerpts we’ve provided here).

The most amazing thing she told GreenGrog?

Cheri Chastain: A unique recycling program at Sierra Nevada is our herd of cattle. We have a herd of cattle that is pasture-raised completely organically, then finished at the University Farm. While at the farm, these cattle are fed spent grains from our brewing process. The cattle then become the fare patrons enjoy in the Sierra Nevada Taproom & Restaurant.

Did you catch that? Fare! As GreenGrog’s carnivorous blogger, let me just say: deee-lish.

After the jump, we’ve got a bunch more of her answers.

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Where are people brewing greenly? Why, here: