Go Greener Tips

Another St Patrick’s Day is just around the corner and Irish pubs all over the world will soon be jam-packed with millions of beer lovers in their green suits, eager to make a toast to the patron saint of Ireland. And if you find yourself traveling somewhere across the globe during this fest, don’t forget to grab a green hat and start looking for a cool pub to celebrate this March 17.

But if you’re traveling with an eco conscience, considering the environmental issues involved in any trip, is beer a good choice for you? Can you really call it eco? Sure you can. Let’s take a look at some green beer options to celebrate a green St Patrick’s, both in color and spirit.

You probably already knew that beer is mostly water, but it’s also produced from several agricultural products, such as barley, wheat, and other cereal grains. And like most crops ,it can be grown in a natural and healthy way, as an organic product. Organic Beer is the result of a brewery and fermentation process which doesn’t involve synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides. For beer to be considered organic, hops (the agents that give the beverage its flavor) must also be grown organically, without the use of fungicides. All these unhealthy chemicals are responsible for polluting our water and can cause soil degradation. Lots of beer lovers also maintain that barley and hops grown in healthier soil are tastier. So, with an organic beer in your hand, you’ll not only be making a positive environmental contribution by supporting organic agriculture, you’ll be enjoying your drink more.

Asking for local beers or finding homebrew shops is always a wise option when traveling. You’ll be preventing carbon emissions caused by transporting foreign beer, and you’ll probably be drinking an eco friendly beverage while your at it, as there’ll be no need for the preservatives normally used when bottles are shipped long distances. This will also help local producers, as fair trade beer boosts small farmer efforts. Local products may even entail a wider range of flavors.

If you’re willing to research deeper, you may look for sustainable initiatives by breweries. Some companies are really making efforts in recycling, carbon-dioxide recovery, or water conservation. You may find breweries powered by solar energy, or presenting a waste water treatment system, where brewing water is also used for cleaning the facilities. Other companies even compost their leftover brewing yeast or any vegetable waste, or turn the organic matter into biogas.

Pubs can also help take care of the environment by serving beer in glasses instead of plastic cups, or handing out reusable growlers. Some pubs use cellars instead of air conditioning to achieve the ideal beer temperature, spending less money on electricity. And let’s not forget that there are always eco friendly options for bottles and packages, such as paper-free bottles or boxes made from recycled materials.

Now that you are an organic beer fan, you might check out The North American Organic Brewers Festival (NAOBF), celebrating its fifth edition in June, in Portland, Oregon. Featuring organic beers from North America and Europe, the event poured over 75 different organic beers last year, and drew a crowd of about 15,000 attendees.

Each year, the green beer offer is increasing everywhere, so enjoy your eco pint on 2009 St Patrick’s, and then come back to tell us how it tasted.

from:

http://www.ecotrotters.com/eco-articles-Eco-Drinking–/64656a6b3565416859434d3d-article.html