The Great Lakes Brewing Company in Cleveland is known not only for its beer, but for the environmentally-friendly methods it employs.

Barley, hops and other ingredients are steeped in steaming tanks to produce the company’s various styles of beer that will be bottled or sold on tap in the brew pub.

Greening Up

A few of the eco-friendly practices found at the Great Lakes Brewing Company:

Buying local — Food travels fewer miles as the company relies on local farmers for much of its meat, dairy and produce.

Fuel — The brewery says running its trucks on straight vegetable oil saves more than 50 percent in fuel costs each year. It also burns cleaner and better lubricates fuel injectors.

Brewer’s grain — Leftover brewery grain feeds livestock, is used to make bread and pretzels, provides a substrate to grow mushrooms and is a source of compost for company-grown produce.

Worms — Known as vermicomposting, worms speed up the composting process and leave behind a nutrient-rich manure perfect for vegetable production.

Recycling — From napkins and beer cartons to business cards, the company relies on recycled fiber. All cardboard, glass, plastic, steel, aluminum and paper the company produces are recycled.

Low-fill beer — Sometimes the brew in the bottle doesn’t measure up to the amount printed on the label. These “low-fill” beers can’t be sold retail. Great Lakes Brewing Company chefs have become masters at incorporating these beers into their recipes to ensure not a drop is wasted.* Energy efficiency — In winter months, the brewery cooler draws in air from the outside to save power. The outdoor beer garden has a retractable roof, so it can be used year-round. A radiant heat fireplace and floor as well as a straw bale wall keep the large room heated in the winter for about $6 per day.This‘green beer’ is good beyond St. Patrick’s Day

Story by Seth Teter

Photos by Megan Nadolski

Great Lakes Brewing Co.

2516 Market Ave.

Cleveland, OH 44113

216.771.4404

GreatLakesBrewing.com

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Even if you didn’t know about the fat worms churning compost in the subsurface bins, the walls stuffed with straw insulation or the bus that guzzles deep-fried fuel, it’s still a pretty good beer. But for many patrons of the Great Lakes Brewing Company, these things provide warm feelings long before the pint glass hits the table.

The brewery and pub are a splash of green on Cleveland’s historic streets — that is, the business has stretched to incorporate environmentally friendly practices into every corner of its operation. The real feat is that it does this without cutting quality or profits.

“We recycle everything. We save money doing it actually,” said Erin Fitzharris, who works in the brewery’s marketing department.

Of course, breweries have always been prolific recyclers. The mass amounts of grain, hops and yeast that go into the beer-making process results in lots of steaming hot mash on the other end. Traditionally, breweries have provided their leftovers to dairy and cattle farmers who welcome the source of protein for their animals.

Roger Mohrman, a Lorain County farmer, picks up used grain from the brewery twice a week to add to the rations of his dairy cows. He described how his livestock are efficient recyclers of the beer byproduct.

“When you feed it, it goes back to milk, and you still have the fertilizer from the animals,” said Mohrman, who formerly used grain from the Anheuser-Busch brewery in Columbus. “It’s a lot of hassle to milk cows, but look how many products you get out of milk.”

A small portion of the grain goes to Wayne County Farm Bureau members Tom and Wendy Wiandt who use it as a base to grow mushrooms, which end up in the entrees. A local baker turns the grain into the restaurant’s cracked barely beer bread and pretzels. And the rest goes to the worms.

“It’s actually kind of creepy,” Fitzharris said, referring to her rare trips into the dark brick basement where the worms are housed.

The red wrigglers chew the mush into nutrient-rich fertilizer. While that helps spruce up some of the plants around the restaurant, the brewery has greener goals in mind.

“We’ve actually had very good luck with it when it comes to producing vegetables,” Fitzharris said.

A company gardener utilizes a local community plot to provide the restaurant with fresh food. This year the company will lease one-third of an acre on a nearby historical farm. It has even experimented with growing pumpkins in the window of the brewing room for one of its seasonal ales.

What it can’t grow itself, Great Lakes Brewing Company gets from local farmers who deliver tomatoes, basil, cabbage, cucumbers, squash and peppers.

“Sometimes we do need a few things outside the norm,” said Saul Kliorys, a food purchaser for the company. That’s when he’ll head to the local farmers’ market to complete the week’s menu. Kliorys said there are numerous reasons why buying local is best.

“If you’re a foodie, it’s for the flavor. It’s for the nutrition definitely. If it’s one day old, it’s going to taste better than something that was shipped across the country,” he said. Buying local also keeps money in the community where it is needed, he added.

The company says its ultimate goal is to produce zero waste. In that quest, it even uses the grease from the deep fryer to power the delivery truck and a shuttle bus known as the “Fatty Wagon.” The oil is simply filtered before it goes in the tank. The exhaust has been known to attract an occasional stray dog.

“Yeah it happens. It tends to smell like french fries,” Fitzharris said.

She said the company’s green aspirations are shared by employees and welcomed by patrons.

“We definitely have customers that come here and ask questions. They realize that we do give back to their community,” she said.

To comment on this article call 614-246-8223 or e-mail.

Great Lakes Brewing Company beers are sold in stores throughout Ohio as well as eight regional states.

Sidebar

Greening Up

A few of the eco-friendly practices found at the Great Lakes Brewing Company:

·Buying local — Food travels fewer miles as the company relies on local farmers for much of its meat, dairy and produce.

·Fuel — The brewery says running its trucks on straight vegetable oil saves more than 50 percent in fuel costs each year. It also burns cleaner and better lubricates fuel injectors.

·Brewer’s grain — Leftover brewery grain feeds livestock, is used to make bread and pretzels, provides a substrate to grow mushrooms and is a source of compost for company-grown produce.

·Worms — Known as vermicomposting, worms speed up the composting process and leave behind a nutrient-rich manure perfect for vegetable production.

·Recycling — From napkins and beer cartons to business cards, the company relies on recycled fiber. All cardboard, glass, plastic, steel, aluminum and paper the company produces are recycled.

·Low-fill beer — Sometimes the brew in the bottle doesn’t measure up to the amount printed on the label. These “low-fill” beers can’t be sold retail. Great Lakes Brewing Company chefs have become masters at incorporating these beers into their recipes to ensure not a drop is wasted.

Energy efficiency — In winter months, the brewery cooler draws in air from the outside to save power. The outdoor beer garden has a retractable roof, so it can be used year-round. A radiant heat fireplace and floor as well as a straw bale wall keep the large room heated in the winter for about $6 per day.

this 'green beer' is good beyond St. Patrick's Day

Story by Seth Teter | Photos by Megan Nadolski

Even if you didn’t know about the fat worms churning compost in the subsurface bins, the walls stuffed with straw insulation or the bus that guzzles deep-fried fuel, it’s still a pretty good beer. But for many patrons of the Great Lakes Brewing Company, these things provide warm feelings long before the pint glass hits the table.

The brewery and pub are a splash of green on Cleveland’s historic streets — that is, the business has stretched to incorporate environmentally friendly practices into every corner of its operation. The real feat is that it does this without cutting quality or profits.

“We recycle everything. We save money doing it actually,” said Erin Fitzharris, who works in the brewery’s marketing department.

Of course, breweries have always been prolific recyclers. The mass amounts of grain, hops and yeast that go into the beer-making process results in lots of steaming hot mash on the other end. Traditionally, breweries have provided their leftovers to dairy and cattle farmers who welcome the source of protein for their animals.

Roger Mohrman, a Lorain County farmer, picks up used grain from the brewery twice a week to add to the rations of his dairy cows. He described how his livestock are efficient recyclers of the beer byproduct.

“When you feed it, it goes back to milk, and you still have the fertilizer from the animals,” said Mohrman, who formerly used grain from the Anheuser-Busch brewery in Columbus. “It’s a lot of hassle to milk cows, but look how many products you get out of milk.”

A small portion of the grain goes to Wayne County Farm Bureau members Tom and Wendy Wiandt who use it as a base to grow mushrooms, which end up in the entrees. A local baker turns the grain into the restaurant’s cracked barely beer bread and pretzels. And the rest goes to the worms.

“It’s actually kind of creepy,” Fitzharris said, referring to her rare trips into the dark brick basement where the worms are housed.

The red wrigglers chew the mush into nutrient-rich fertilizer. While that helps spruce up some of the plants around the restaurant, the brewery has greener goals in mind.

“We’ve actually had very good luck with it when it comes to producing vegetables,” Fitzharris said.

A company gardener utilizes a local community plot to provide the restaurant with fresh food. This year the company will lease one-third of an acre on a nearby historical farm. It has even experimented with growing pumpkins in the window of the brewing room for one of its seasonal ales.

What it can’t grow itself, Great Lakes Brewing Company gets from local farmers who deliver tomatoes, basil, cabbage, cucumbers, squash and peppers.

“Sometimes we do need a few things outside the norm,” said Saul Kliorys, a food purchaser for the company. That’s when he’ll head to the local farmers’ market to complete the week’s menu. Kliorys said there are numerous reasons why buying local is best.

“If you’re a foodie, it’s for the flavor. It’s for the nutrition definitely. If it’s one day old, it’s going to taste better than something that was shipped across the country,” he said. Buying local also keeps money in the community where it is needed, he added.

The company says its ultimate goal is to produce zero waste. In that quest, it even uses the grease from the deep fryer to power the delivery truck and a shuttle bus known as the “Fatty Wagon.” The oil is simply filtered before it goes in the tank. The exhaust has been known to attract an occasional stray dog.

“Yeah it happens. It tends to smell like french fries,” Fitzharris said.

She said the company’s green aspirations are shared by employees and welcomed by patrons.

“We definitely have customers that come here and ask questions. They realize that we do give back to their community,” she said.

To comment on this article e-mail info@ourohio.org

Great Lakes Brewing Company beers are sold in stores throughout Ohio as well as eight regional states.

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