There’s nothing quite like cracking open a crisp beer at the end of a long work week or just a long day (you do you). But do you know what’s better than a fresh beer?
The taste of an organic beer made through sustainable brewing practices and ingredients.
Although not every brand on our list is certified organic, we have rounded up some of the most sustainable breweries that not only prioritize local ingredients but also green business practices and recycled packaging.
Beer sure is refreshing, and speaking of we’ll soon be refreshing our content with our new Brand Rating System, expanding our eco-considerations to a range of factors, like climate impact and chemical use. To learn more about this updated methodology, see here.
Now let’s break out the sustainable snacks, pop open a cold one, and raise a glass to sustainable beer drinkers.
A Toast To These Green Beer Brands
Certified B Corp, Toast Ale goes above and beyond by offering a selection of award-winning beers made of wasted bread byproducts.
For an organic light beer that’s equally light on the planet, Peak Organic Brewing offers a range of all-organic options—including ultralight hard seltzers—using mostly local ingredients.
Index: Sustainable Beers
- Toast Ale Jump to brand
- Sierra Nevada Jump to brand
- Upslope Brewing Jump to brand
- Peak Organic Brewing Co. Jump to brand
- New Belgium Brewing Company Jump to brand
- Ninkasi Brewery Jump to brand
- Eel River Brewing Company Jump to brand
Toast Ale
You won’t beer-lieve what Toast Ale is doing with its vegan, award-winning IPAs, craft lagers, and traditional pale ales, which can all be purchased in aluminum cans or glass bottles.
Bread is one of the largest food wastes in the UK, with 20 million slices of bread going unwanted every day. This zero waste beer brand turns this otherwise landfill-bound byproduct into natural beers, like light, refreshing lagers, and a bright, tropical American pale ale, replacing 25% of the malted barley in their brewing process. Not a bad food waste solution, we’d say!
The bread must be fully traceable and have known ingredients and allergens, ensuring a high-quality product.
The Certified B Corp measures their carbon emissions and is committed to reaching NetZero by 2030. They use reusable steel kegs through Kegstar, while many brewers utilize Key Kegs made from single-use plastic.
Through a collaboration with Change Please, Toast Ale has also opened a Good Company, a cafe and taproom that brews “life-changing coffee by day and planet-saving beer by night”.
All coffee sale profits go toward Change Please’s mission to end homelessness, while all beer profits go to charities “fixing the food system”. Toast has also donated 1% of overall revenue to charities supporting sustainable food systems. Their leading charity partner is Feedback, a global leader against food waste.
Sierra Nevada
Chances are, you’ve seen the green cans in your local supermarket from Sierra Nevada. The sustainable brewery is dedicated to high-quality, low-impact brewing by investing in the most extensive solar power setup in the alcohol industry.
While not exclusively an organic beer brand, Sierra Nevada’s core organic and all-natural line-up includes a crisp pale ale, a medium-bodied organic ale, and a hoppy IPA with a citrusy aroma and a complex, malty flavor. You can also find seasonal and limited releases alongside non-alcoholic options.
In addition to utilizing 10,750 solar panels to power beer production in its Chico, California facility, Sierra Nevada’s sustainable brewing practices also include on-site water recycling and spent grain composting. Several times a day, tractors come by to collect their spent grain and deliver it to regional cattle and dairy farms.
Their North Carolina brewing facility is the first LEED Certified production brewery in the US, and they have the largest solar array in craft beer at their Chico, CA production facility.
They maintain three acres of hops, 25 acres of barley and rotational crops, and two acres of garden—all certified USDA organic.
Upslope Brewing
When it comes to sustainable brewing, Colorado is Rocky Mountain High on our list of the best places to buy organic beer. Based in Boulder, flavorful, low-impact, and full-bodied beer are Upslope Brewing’s primary concerns.
The sustainable craft beer brewery doesn’t use any glass bottles, utilizing recyclable aluminum cans instead, which are lighter to ship. Upslope’s outer packaging is made from 100% recycled cardboard with sustainable forestry certification from the SFI.
Besides traditional options, like IPAs and pale ales, Upslope creates an organic beer with unique flavors, like Blackberry Lemon Sour Ales and Pumpkin Ales. The Pumpkin Ale, in particular, is made with organic ingredients, like baby bear pumpkins.
Upslope Brewing is a Certified B Corp, ensuring ethical practices in their supply chain, production process, and working conditions. Upslope events are zero waste and their facilities have over 98% solid waste landfill diversion through composting, recycling, and spent grain donation.
Not only that, but they know how to make a brewery sustainable. Solar panels generate 10% of the energy at their breweries, their Miura boiler is 20% more efficient than industry standard ones, and thanks to their Flow Meter Project, they can monitor their water use. A normal barrel of beer uses about seven barrels of water, while Upslope’s use only four.
Upslope donates to over 175 nonprofits every year, with 1% of their craft lager sales going to the freshwater wildlife conservation nonprofit Trout Unlimited.
The green beer brand also treats its employees very well, with paid time off for volunteer work, additional funds for outdoor activities, and financial support to buy their first home.
Peak Organic Brewing Co.
As their name suggests, Peak Organic Brewing Co. is just about the most sustainable craft brewery offering entirely organic and locally-sourced ingredients.
Natural ingredients and sustainable practices come together in the form of premium organic beers, like a toasty amber ale, full-flavored IPAs, and even hard seltzers. The Peak Beer Organic IPA is a local favorite in Portland, Maine, with Simcoe, Amarillo, and Nugget hops.
Peak beer utilizes organic ingredients from local farmers. Peak believes using local ingredients from small farms produces the best flavor. You can find several of their partners on their website, such as the organic Oeschner Farm in Ithaca, New York.
New Belgium Brewing Company
Beer consumers across the world are familiar with the green beer brand New Belgium Brewing Company. They produce several different craft beer flavors, like the Voodoo Ranger line composed of various IPAs and ales.
But Fat Tire is one of the oldest and best organic beers on the market. “Crisp, bright, and easy-drinking”, it’s been a staple in American beer culture for years and for good reason. Taste aside, it became America’s first certified carbon-neutral beer in 2020, made with sustainable production practices and lightweight packaging.
As a Certified B Corp and 1% For the Planet member, New Belgium Brewing Company is a standout in the beer industry. Although Fat Tire is their first carbon-neutral beer, they aim to have all craft beers carbon-neutral by 2030.
Besides brewing organic beer, New Belgium is an inclusive company with diversity training, comprehensive audits, and support for LGBTQ+ employees.
New Belgium also supports environmental impact reduction initiatives by donating to various organizations and encouraging employees to bike to work, reducing their transportation footprint in the process.
Ninkasi Brewery
As far as craft brewers are concerned, the team at Ninkasi Brewery is dedicated to creating high-quality ethical beers. Ninkasi strives to use sustainable brewing solutions in all of its flavors and varieties of beer, including pale ale, pilsners, IPAs, stouts, and more.
The Oregon brewery has made several efforts towards sustainability, like using recycled and local construction materials, energy-efficient appliances, energy recovery systems, and more.
Ninkasi’s Beer Is Love program provides beer donations to nonprofit organizations in any community where their products are sold. Through the program, they have supported organizations bolstering causes like animals, arts & music, equality, outdoors, and women’s rights.
Eel River Brewing Company
For organic beer brands, Eel River Brewing Company is a pint above the rest.
As the first brewery to become certified organic in the country, Eel River produces some of the highest-quality organic beers on the market.
They craft several beers, like the California Blonde, Amber Ale, Organic IPA, and Climax 100. Described as “beer for beer’s sake” the latter is their effort to bring back simple, classic brews, made with only organic malt, hops, yeast, and water.
Eel River Brewing Company’s organic beers are certified by the California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF). This organic certification ensures their products meet strict organic standards and undergo an annual inspection.
