beer Archives | Northwest Public Broadcasting

Beer Waste Helps Montana Town Save Money On Water Treatment

By NPR News February 12, 2020

In Bozeman, Mont., the Water Reclamation Facility treats more than 6 million gallons of water every day from sinks, showers, toilets — really anything that goes down a drain. That includes liquid waste from more than 10 breweries in this city of nearly 50,000. Read More

Bye-Bye, Beer? Brewers Say They’ve Got A Plan On Climate Change Ahead Of Possible Price Jump

By NPR News October 20, 2018

The barley used to make beer as we know it may take a hit under climate change, but growers say they are already preparing by planting it further north in colder locations. CREDIT: DEAN HUTTON/BLOOMBERG

Newly published research predicting beer prices could double as rising global temperatures and more volatile weather cause shortages of barley created a big splash. But brewers and barley growers say you shouldn't drown your sorrows just yet: They have a plan. Read More

Good News For ‘Green’ Brews: Consumers Say They’ll Pay More For Sustainable Beer

By NPR News October 15, 2018

Allagash employees Salim Raal, left, and Brendan McKay stack bottles of Golden Brett, a limited release beer fermented with a house strain of Brettanomyces yeast. The Maine brewery recently installed solar panels as part of its sustainability initiatives. CREDIT: DEREK DAVIS

Breweries are quite creative these days when it comes to saving energy. Double Mountain Brewery in Oregon uses refillable beer bottles, Five & 20 Spirits and Brewing turns its waste grain and water into compost for aquaculture, and Sierra Nevada Brewing Company recovers carbon dioxide from the fermentation cycle. Read More

It’s The Water … That Helped Extinguish Flames At Old Olympia Brewery In Tumwater

By Austin Jenkins October 8, 2018

Tumwater firefighters responded to a three-alarm fire at the old Olympia Brewery complex Monday, Oct. 8. CREDIT: AUSTIN JENKINS/N3

Fire consumed an abandoned building in the Olympia Brewery Complex in Tumwater early Monday, Oct. 8. The Olympia beer name is now owned by Pabst Brewing Company and brewed under contract by MillerCoors in California, but still distributed widely throughout the Northwest. Read More

Yakima Valley Farmers Fight For The Future Of A Cascades Lake

By Eilís O'Neil September 21, 2018

The Carpenter family relies on irrigation canals to bring water from the mountains to their hops farm in the otherwise arid Yakima Valley. CREDIT: ELLIS O'NEIL, KUOW/EARTHFIX

It’s September, so the hops harvest is in full swing in Washington’s Yakima Valley. At the Carpenter family’s farm in Granger, workers are making their way between rows of trellises, pulling down vines and feeding them into a sorting machine. Continue Read More

Bitter Brew: Northwest Craft Beer Industry Feeling Bite From Metals Tariffs

By Tom Banse July 27, 2018

Mobile canning service company Craft Canning + Bottling of Portland and some 60 of its clients have felt pain from the aluminum tariff the U.S. recently imposed. CREDIT: JIM NEWMAN - CRAFT CANNING

The craft brewing industry in the Northwest is starting to feel pain from the Trump administration's steel and aluminum tariffs. Those metals are made into beer cans, kegs and fermentation tanks. Continue Reading Bitter Brew: Read More

Spokane Brewery Makes Beer From Food Waste (And It’s Darn Tasty)

By Emily Schwing January 24, 2018

Thomas Croskrey, head brewer at Bellwether Brewing Company in Spokane, will tap a keg of his plum beer on anuary 25. The plums he used in the beer he made came from the Spokane Edible Tree Project, a non-profit that aims to keep food from going to waste. EMILY SCHWING / NORTHWEST NEWS NETWORK

There’s all kinds of stuff found in beers these days: cucumbers, pumpkins—-and plums A small brewery in Spokane will start selling beer they’ve made from local fruit. Continue Reading Spokane Brewery Makes Beer From Food Waste (And It’s Darn Tasty)Read More

Sour Beer

By McKayla Fox December 8, 2017

Sour Beer Sour beers are slowly becoming more popular among brewers. Cameron Johnson, owner of Young Buck Brewing in Spokane, is one of them. Johnson started brewing way back in college, but hopes to expand his business in the coming years by focusing mainly on sour beers. Full Transcript [Narrator] At The Incubator brewhouse in… Read More