Brewing and Environmental Sustainability in Michigan and Alabama

In early February, I gave a presentation of some of my research on how breweries attempt to “do” environmental sustainability. My focus is on water issues, but I am drawn to all the ways breweries attempt to do this important work. Most of my research to date has been on Michigan breweries, but my talk at Auburn University Montgomery allowed me to meet many brewing professionals and others interested in brewing and sustainability in the Montgomery area. One take away from the talk occurred during Q&A where we identified that most brewers are business people looking for a return on investment and that injecting a need to account for environmental and social impacts to the surrounding communities is often missed. In areas that are beginning to dabble in the brewing tourism economy, they have an opportunity to develop best practices that have been tried in other regions. It was also great to meet the robust home brewing community in Montgomery. Sláinte!