A friend just shared with me that Goose Island just came out with Green Line Pale Ale!  I’m so happy to see this local Chicago company doing their part to reduce their carbon footprint and use less packaging.  I’m not a beer drinker but for those of you that are, you’ll have to give this a try!  As of now it’s only available on draft in the Chicago area.

Goose Island debuts new brew with hint of green

By: David Sterrett Jan. 29, 2010

(Crain’s) — Goose Island Beer Co. plans to unveil a new Green Line Pale Ale on Monday to highlight its drive to create a more environmentally friendly brewing business.

The lighter American pale ale will be the Chicago-based brewer’s 26th beer and will be available at 50 restaurants and bars throughout the area, CEO John Hall said.

“It’s a little hoppy, but it’s something we feel most people will feel comfortable drinking,” Mr. Hall said. “It’s really a statement of our company’s values and connecting with people.”

He said a group of employees suggested the brewery try to reduce its carbon footprint. The new brew will only be featured in kegs to try to eliminate the need for glass bottles.

Mr. Hall said the brewer wants to continue to use less water to produce the beer, and hopes to continually improve the process in the coming years.

The beer will likely appeal to those looking to try a new brew or people who are passionate about the environment, said Darren Tristano, an executive vice-president at Technomic Inc., a Chicago-based food and beverage consultant.

“It’s a very narrow niche of people they are going after, but it will be good for their brand,” Mr. Tristano said. “It’s a good move because it helps differentiate your brand. We have seen a trend toward companies being more environmentally friendly, but unfortunately it comes at a cost, and the trend has slowed in the last year.”

The beer will be launched at restaurant Uncommon Gound in Edgewater on Monday night.

By Charles Q. Choi, Special to LiveScience

posted: 21 August 2009 08:54 am ET

After beer is made, the waste from breweries could help generate power, researchers now suggest.

One problem brewers face is what to do with the thousands of tons of grain left over at the end of the brewing process. In the past, they just sold the waste to farmers who either fed it to their animals or spread it on their fields as fertilizer. However, in Europe, given reductions in cattle breeding and stricter regulations on what waste is allowed on land, neither option is as easy anymore.

“We reached a situation in 2000 where breweries even had to pay to dispose of their spent grain,” said researcher Wolfgang Bengel, the technical director of BMP Biomasse Projekt, a German biomass company.

Instead of a headache, Bengel saw a business opportunity. He had previously taken waste from rice and sugar cane and produced energy from it in China and Thailand, and thought a similar process could be developed for brewery leftovers. Such energy could help fuel the breweries themselves.

“Beermaking is energy intensive — you boil stuff, use hot water and steam and then use electric energy for cooling — so if you recover more than 50 percent of your own energy costs from the spent grain, that’s a big saving,” Bengel explained.

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