COLUMBUS, Ohio– With the Earth Day release of Helios, a Rustic Lager brewed with sustainable ingredients, Land-Grant is proud to continue their annual Sun-Grant series of beers. Named for and inspired by the Sun-Grant Association, a group of Land-Grant Universities that research and develop sustainable and environmentally friendly bio-based energy alternatives, Sun-Grant beers are brewed using sustainable techniques and ingredients.
This year’s beer features local honey from the Stratford Ecological Center near Delaware, Ohio, Pilsner malt from Haus Malts in Cleveland, Michigan grown Triple Pearl hops and a Kveik yeast strain that ferments at an energy efficient lower temperature.
For every pint pour and 6-pack sold, $2 will go towards Land-Grant’s internal Sun-Grant Fund which will be used to finance equipment upgrades, building improvements and anything else that will continue to reduce our environmental impact. Land-Grant’s Sun-Grant page on their website highlights and details those ongoing sustainability initiatives. Their update 2018 Sustainability and Community report will be published with the release of the beer.
Taking the sustainability focus a step further, Land-Grant is also excited to introduce the all-new Sun-Grant Sustainable Beer Fest. The event, hosted in the Land-Grant (solar-powered) beer garden, takes place on May 4 from 3 p.m.- 8 p.m. coinciding with the conclusion of their neighbor COSI’s inaugural Science Fair. The beer maker has invited several of their local and national sustainability-minded brewery friends to showcase and highlight their beer and practices at the event. Participating breweries include: Jackie O’s, HiHo, Little Fish, MadTree, Warped Wing, Wolf’s Ridge, Woolly Pig and Sierra Nevada. Tickets for the event are currently on sale at the brewery’s website and are $35 in advance, $40 day-of.
“As we continue our pursuit of sustainable brewing, we’ve learned that while there is plenty of work to do making ourselves sustainable, we can accomplish so much more by working together with our brewing and local community,” said Land-Grant. “In our second year we co-founded the Ohio Craft Beer Association’s Sustainability Committee along with Little Fish Brewing Co. The idea behind this fest is to bring sustainable breweries together to celebrate our efforts thus far, share our stories with our fans, and rally to continue the effort for a more environmentally friendly craft beer industry here in Ohio.”
Helios Rustic Lager will be available on draft and six packs of cans ($9.99) at the Land-Grant taproom on Earth Day, Monday April 22.