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For the Kona Brewing Company in Kona, Hawaii, the term "green beer" has nothing to do with the sparkling and artificially colored St. Patrick's Day swill. This 25-year-old artisanal outpost – well loved around the world for its clean and easy-to-drink Long Wave Island Lager and its floral and deformable equal parts Big Wave Golden Ale – has maintained a deep commitment to the l & # 39; Everyday environment since the first day. It's hard to ignore Mother Nature in a state so prized for her breathtaking, remote and sometimes unpredictable natural landscapes, where living in harmony with the land is essential to the "aloha way".
"This brewing business was created by a father-and-son team, Cameron Healy and Spoon Khalsa," said Billy Smith, senior director of operations at Kona. "They recognized that they had the opportunity to bring craft beer here to Hawaii, but they wanted to make sure that they did it in the style of Hawaii, Aloha. It really means giving back to the community and also ensuring that we minimize our impact on the environment. So from the beginning, that's part of our philosophy. "
Kona's small, traditional brewery, Big Island, is a staple of this laid-back beach resort. It attracts a constant stream of locals and tourists, with a constantly rotating selection of exclusive and unique lighthouses. Ecological practices are ubiquitous: from turning the brewed grain from the brewery into a home-made pizza crust with on-site sprinkling of vegetables and herb gardens with captured air-conditioning.
"Between the pub and the brewery, about 95% of the waste is diverted to landfills," Smith reports.
It's no surprise that when Kona recently opened a brand new 30,000 square foot production facility just down the street, it decided to step up its conservation efforts. The movement fits perfectly in the continuity of investments in the whole sector.
"Sustainability has always been an important factor in the craft beer industry," said Matt Gacioch, official ambassador for sustainable development at the Brewers Association, a national trade organization. "The pioneers of pre-1990 craft beer had already found innovative ways to dispose of waste, donate exhausted grain to farmers and improve the efficiency of their operations. That said, advances in technology and increased awareness of sustainable development issues over the last decade have led to even more powerful innovations, as well as to more craft brewers implementing programs and programs. formalized sustainability initiatives.
While the big producers pave the way for stepping up stewardship, smaller breweries like Kona can turn to industry leaders and learn to adapt and add some of these earlier advances as they grow and develop.
"Our current brewery is producing 14,000 barrels a year, and this news will produce 100,000 once we reach full capacity," says Smith. "We realized that we had an excellent opportunity to leverage the technology provided by the industry and apply it so that we can continue to minimize our impact."
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