Craft Brew Alliance Releases 2013 Sustainability Report

Portland, Ore. Craft Brew Alliance (CBA) (NASDAQ: BREW), an independent craft brewing company, today announced the release of its 2013 Sustainability Report. Sustainability in its brewing practices and operations has been a priority for the company from the beginning; however, this is the first year it released an annual summary report of its core objectives and achievements. CBA’s 2013 Sustainability Report provides an update on the company’s sustainability priorities, programs and community and national partnerships, and includes an infographic showcasing some of the biggest accomplishments achieved across the company’s breweries nationwide.

“Being in the brewing industry, where water is one of the key ingredients in the beers we brew, we have a direct line of sight to the impact we can make — on our local community and environment — through our sustainability efforts,” said Scott Mennen, Vice President of Brewery Operations for CBA. “Brewing great-tasting, high-quality beers is our primary objective, and one of the things we are most proud of is brewing those beers in a way that is sustainable and makes a positive impact on our communities and the environment; this is our responsibility. This report reflects our commitment to continually finding ways to improve our environmental stewardship while creating world-class craft beers for consumers.”

2013 CBA Sustainability Report Highlights

  • All CBA breweries are committed to recycling and waste diversion programs; in 2013 our Portland brewery, which is our largest, achieved a significant 99.4% landfill diversion rate, primarily as a result of the more than 30 tons of brewers’ spent grain delivered to local dairy farms.
  • Across CBA, we rigorously track several Key Performance Indicators around reducing our carbon footprint. In 2013, we reduced the amount of natural gas therms used to produce a barrel of beer by 6.3%, putting our overall therms per barrel at an industry-leading 1.67.
  • Our Portsmouth brewery implemented an innovative water reclamation system that allows us to get more mileage out of the water used for rinsing and equipment cooling.
  • Our brewery in Kona, Hawaii offsets 50% of its electricity needs through a rooftop photovoltaic solar panel system.
  • Through its partnership with Washington’s Department of Ecology TREEs (Technical Resources in Energy Efficiency), our Woodinville brewery identified and repaired more than 30 compressed air leaks, for $20,000 in electricity savings.
  • Our water usage per gallon of beer is now 4.73 gallons, with our Portland brewery using only 4.07 gallons per gallon of beer brewed.
  • All five of CBA’s pubs are certified by the Green Restaurant Association.

To read the full 2013 Sustainability Report, please click here.

2014 CBA Earth Day Initiative

As part of its Earth Day 2014 efforts, CBA is participating in a company-wide water conservation pledge with its partner Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF), a non-profit organization that supports environmentally preferred energy and watershed projects. For every CBA employee pledge, BEF will restore 1,000 gallons of water to depleted rivers. Since 2009, CBA has supported 9 million gallons of water restoration credits with BEF.

About Craft Brew Alliance

CBA is an independent, publicly traded craft brewing company that was formed through the merger of leading Pacific Northwest craft brewers — Widmer Brothers Brewing and Redhook Ale Brewery — in 2008. With an eye toward preserving and growing one-of-a-kind craft beers and brands, CBA welcomed Kona Brewing Company in 2010, and then launched Omission beer in 2012 and Square Mile Cider Company in 2013.

When Kurt & Rob Widmer founded Widmer Brothers Brewing in 1984, they didn’t confine their brewing exploration to strict style guidelines. To this day, Widmer Brothers continues to create craft beers with a unique and unconventional twist on traditional styles that are award winning and please a wide range of craft beer lovers. Redhook began in a Seattle transmission shop in 1981 and those colorful roots are reflected in the brand’s personality to this day. The eminently drinkable beers consistently win awards and please crowds across the United States. Kona Brewing was founded in 1994 by the father and son team of Cameron Healy and Spoon Khalsa, who dreamed of crafting fresh, local-island brews with spirit, passion and quality. As the largest craft brewery in Hawaii, Kona personifies the laid-back, passionate lifestyle and environmental respect of the Hawaiian people and culture. Omission beer is the first craft beer brand in the United States focused exclusively on brewing great tasting craft beers with traditional beer ingredients, including malted barley, that are specially crafted to remove gluten. Square Mile Cider was inspired by the fortitude and perseverance of the original Oregon pioneers and reinvigorates this enduringly classic American beverage.