Winner of 2015 MBAA Brewery Award of Excellence Announced

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St. Paul, MN – The Master Brewers Association of the Americas (MBAA) has awarded its 2015 Brewery Award of Excellence to Phillips Brewing Company of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada for their CO2 reclamation project. In 2015 the award focuses on sustainability and recognizes outstanding achievements by a single brewery in the development and implementation of an innovative process (or processes) that supports environmental sustainability in brewing. In second-place, MBAA has honored Widmer Brothers Brewing of Portland, Oregon, for their HVAC optimization project and Redhook Brewery of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, has garnered third-place for their green- energy powered electric vehicle station.

The Phillips Brewing Company’s award-winning and innovative CO2 reclamation project is a significant advancement for a brewery of its size and stands as a model for other small breweries. Their unique system reduces the company’s environmental footprint, is cost effective, and has inspired employees to strive to create other innovations. Project highlights include:

  • 97% of CO2 required is now supplied by Phillips Brewing Company’s reclamation system; this single change is lowering their CO2/BBL ratio by 10.475lbs/BBL.
  • No negative impact on workers or the community.
  • Their design has the potential to make CO2 reclamation a possibility for many more breweries than current commercially available systems.
  • The transition to a biogenetic source of CO2 has also reduced the company’s fossil fuels usage.

“MBAA is pleased to recognize the outstanding achievement of Phillips Brewing Company, whose project truly underscores the importance of environmental sustainability and the ingenuity of brewmasters in our industry.” said Dan Burick, chair of MBBA Brewery Award of Excellence Committee. “I can envision that the CO2 reclamation project will be held up as a model for other breweries to follow.”

Matt Phillips, proprietor of Phillips Brewing Company states, “We hope that by pioneering this system we are able to show other breweries that CO2 reclamation is not just an option for the largest players in the craft beer field, but can be scaled to make a real difference in breweries of many sizes.”

The award was announced during the Closing Session of the 2015 MBAA Annual Conference, held October 8-10 in Jacksonville, Florida. Phillips Brewing Company’s Euan Thomson, quality assurance manager, accepted the award on behalf of the company. An article profiling the award-winning sustainability project will be featured in an upcoming issue of Technical Quarterly, the official journal of the MBAA.

Applications for the 2016 MBAA Brewery Award of Excellence – Community Impact are being accepted now through February 15, 2016. For award application details, visit: www.mbaa.com/breweryawardofexcellence

About:

Master Brewers Association of the Americas (MBAA): The Association was formed in 1887 with the purpose of promoting, advancing, and improving the professional interest of brew and malt house production and technical personnel. Today, MBAA is a dynamic, global community working to advance the brewing, fermentation, and allied industries by: advocating the exchange of knowledge; creating, assembling, interpreting, and disseminating credible and beneficial information; developing world-class education offerings; and providing valuable personal and professional development opportunities. MBAA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. MBAA has over 3,000 members in 24 different districts across 55 countries.