Sustainability

The Brewery

Water

The average brewery uses five times the amount of water per finished pint. Aside from the water in the actual beer you drink, large amounts are used for cooling the hot wort and cleaning the tanks. Thus far we have enacted three processes to reduce water use:

1. We use a glycol looped double heat exchanger to drop the incoming water temp when cooling our hot wort, in effect using less water.
2. Our brewery has a hot liquor tank which catches excess water used during cooling and stores it for the next brew day.
3. We use a clean in place (CIP) system to clean our tanks. Treated water is looped with a pump and used to clean all the tanks.

Electricity

We are a part of the Pacific Powers Blue Sky Program. Though this program, a portion of our electricity use is sourced from renewable energy such as wind power. This reduces the carbon emission from typical energy production. For information go to www.pacificpower.net.

Natural Gas

We are part of Northwest Naturals Gas "Smart Energy" program thorough which we purchase "carbon off sets". These off sets include planting trees, which absorb carbon dioxide, and investing in renewable natural gas, such as capturing methane from cow crap...seriously check it out at www.nwnatural.com.

Spent Grains

We use about 350lbs of grains to brew a batch of beer. These "spent" grains are given to a local farmer for feed, saving them from the landfill.

Spent Hops

Hops are picked up by a local farmer and composted.

Organic Ingredients

The brewing industry is beginning to see more organic ingredients available. Unfortunately the 2007 crop of grains and hops was dismal to say the least. We are able to use some organic grains in our beer. Hops will have to wait until the 2008 crop is released to see if they are available. As the market allows we will begin experimenting with different organic materials. We hope that as the market strengthens we can procure more organic love to use in our beers.

The Brewers

In general we are earth conscience. Lights are turned on only when needed, running water is never left unattended, minimal amounts of caustic chemicals are used, and aside from a run away brewing hose, we don't shower...

The Restaurant

When possible we use local ingredients in our recipes. We have committed to Painted Hills Natural Beef for our fresh spanked burgers and steak. The animals are raised on a vegetarian diet with no hormones or artificial ingredients. Check out www.natural-beef.com. We use natural pork from Carlton Farms for our baby back ribs and pulled pork sandwich. Check out www.CarltonFarms.com ...oh yeah the best benefit is the premium taste!

Other local products include honey, some bread, in season fruits and vegetables, nuts, cheese, wine, and spirits, ... We won't mislead you and tell you that everything is local and organic, but we can truthfully state we have made a start and will continue to work towards this goal.

As with the Brewers, our restaurants staff is trained to conserve. Lights are only on when needed, running water is always attended, food scraps are composted, cooking elements are turned on when needed, water is brought to you table only on request, and we have a recycling program.

We want our children's children to be able to brew beer (when they are 21 of course) and serve great food to your children's children and even their children's children's children in our beautiful Willamette Valley. It is through innovation, conservation, and sustainability that we can make this happen. We hope you will join in the fun and raise a pint of our craft beer in a toast to them and our one and only Earth. Cheers!!!