Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Monday 24 SepteMber 2018

A green beer that looks like algae? It’s all for clean water

By JOHN SEEWER A group of brewers in who saw protecting the
Associated Press Michigan voted this year to environment as part of their
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — There back shutting down an ag- business model.
are spicy beers and even ing oil pipeline where lakes But getting involved in
peanut butter beers, made Huron and Michigan meet clean-water politics can
to stand out on crowded because it could be vulner- create sticky situations.
shelves. Then there’s a able to leaks. New Belgium Brewing Co.
murky, green brew that “This is my livelihood,” said found that out three years
looks a lot like algae. It’s Larry Bell, owner of Bell’s ago when bars and res-
making a statement on Brewery. “It’s a business is- taurants in Craig, Colora-
the one ingredient brewers sue for us, but it’s also good do, began a boycott of its
can’t do without — clean for the community and so- beer.
water. ciety that we have clean It turned out the company
The ghastly-looking “Ale- water. had given money for wa-
gae Bloom” beer made by He got a close look at how terways projects to an en-
Maumee Bay Brewing Co., vulnerable the water sup- vironmental group involved
which relies on Lake Erie for ply is after a pipeline spilled in an unrelated court case
its water, is a good conver- oil near his brewing facility that threatened to shut
sation starter that reminds in 2010. down a coal mine just out-
customers about the toxic Some craft breweries in side the city.
algae that show up each Salem, Oregon, stopped “We felt compassionate
year in the shallowest of the making beer for several and listened to them,” said
Great Lakes, said brewery weeks in June after an al- Katie Wallace, New Bel-
manager Craig Kerr. gae bloom led to a drink- gium’s assistant director of
Workers came up with the ing water warning for the sustainability. “Public per-
idea last summer when a young and sick. ception is something we
thick coat of algae settled Ian Croxall, a co-owner of care about, but it doesn’t
into a creek alongside its Santiam Brewing in Salem, change our overall view.”
brew house. said they could’ve stayed New Belgium, based in
“We’re going to keep doing open, but customers were Fort Collins, Colorado, said
this until the algae bloom A glass of “Alegae Bloom” beer at Maumee Bay Brewing Co. in asking “if the beer was be- it has given $16 million to
isn’t there anymore,” Kerr Toledo, Ohio, on Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2018. ing made with toxic water.” nonprofit groups, with a
said. “The goal is to never Associated Press The brewery lost about large chunk going toward
make this beer again.” name of water. A grow- say protects water sources $40,000 and spent another water protection projects.
Craft brewers nationwide ing number are getting from pollution. $5,000 on a new filtration It also has been one of
are pushing for strong envi- involved at a time when Some brewers, like Mau- system in case the toxins re- the loudest voices calling
ronmental regulations while the Trump administration is mee Bay, are serving up turn, he said. for stronger environmental
also working to preserve riv- seeking to do away with a seasonal batches to draw Craft brewers say it’s their policies.
ers and streams, all in the rule that a group of brewers attention to pollutants that duty to protect the water That means occasionally
threaten Florida’s aquifers they use. Beer is about 90 hearing from people tell-
and Colorado’s mountain percent water, after all. ing them “stick to making
streams. Atlanta’s SweetWater beer.”
Mixing beer into debates Brewing Co. and Swamp “We didn’t ask politics to
over environmental policy Head Brewery in Gaines- get involved in beer,” said
adds levity to discussions ville, Florida, trace their in- Wallace. “But they did
about protecting the na- volvement in clean water when our No. 1 ingredient is
tion’s waterways and helps campaigns to founders being threatened.”q
connect with new audi-
ences.
“We’re reaching people
where they drink,” said
Becky Hammer, of the
Natural Resources Defense
Council, who oversees
the Brewers for Clean Wa-
ter campaign, which has
grown from a few dozen
members to nearly 100 dur-
ing the past five years.
The council has seized on
the efforts by brewers to
team up with them in lob-
bying against the repeal
of an Obama-era clean
water rule intended to re-
duce sources of pollution
dumped in the small tribu-
taries of larger lakes and
rivers. Bartender Rodney Shipp pours a can of “Alegae Bloom” beer
Brewery manager Craig Kerr stands inside the Maumee Brewing But that’s not the only wa- at Maumee Bay Brewing Co. in Toledo, Ohio, on Wednesday,
Co. in Toledo, Ohio, on Thursday, Aug. 23, 2018. ter issue that beer makers Sept. 12, 2018.
Associated Press are worried about. Associated Press