Green beer, not green beer
The new food industry blog Daily Blender gave me an idea with a post on the carbon footprint of bottled water. Having recently switched from delivered water to Philly’s finest tap water, I began to wonder what the most environmentally responsible way was to enjoy my beer.
Fortunately for me, others have already addressed the details. Apparently, reusable bottles which are refilled have the smallest carbon footprint, as is still common in Germany if not the rest of Europe. According to this post (mixing Green beer with green beer – in the St. Patrick’s sense of the word) returnable bottles are better if not shipped too far, whereas cans are better if the shipping is longer. Of course, that assumes that you’re recycling both. In theory, buying a keg (or brewing your own) could be even better, but I’ve never had the energy to do that.
Either way, I’m not sure I’m going to do cans any time soon, but I’ll keep on recycling those bottle and patronizing my local breweries.
Thanks for the link. Good work buying from local brew houses. Of course, with the hops shortage and failing barley crops, who knows how long those smaller breweries will stay in business. Your thoughts on the matter?
Perhaps I’m overly optimistic, but I think they’ll survive because they’ve got a premium product to begin with. The fashion for wildly overhopped beers may also wane somewhat, which may even be a good thing.