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Green Beer (Hooray!)
Like many Aussie males, we here at GreenHabits like a beer or two occasionally so we were glad to hear the a “green” beer had hit the market in Australia.
Foster’s subsidiary Cascade have launched Cascade Green - a “100% carbon offset beer”. It also happens to be low carb and preservative free for even more guilt-free drinking. Cascade have mad huge efforts to “green” their operations in Tasmania and have worked hard to produce a beer with low carbon emissions - the remaining emissions are offset through the purchase of carbon offsets. The beer is green enough to be given a tick of approval from regulators - receiving certification from the Australian Government Greenhouse Friendly program.
The following is taken from the Cascade Green website:
” How is Cascade Green a greener choice?
Cascade Green is a 100% carbon offset beer that has achieved Australian Government Greenhouse Friendly™ certification and is among only a handful of products approved under the Greenhouse Friendly™ Program (GFP). As part of this rigorous accreditation process, Cascade Green has undergone an extensive Lifecycle Analysis, which has been independently verified by DNV* and SMEC* and also has an Emissions Monitoring Plan in place to meet the ongoing commitments required of GFP members. (*Det Norske Veritas and Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation).
After first reducing our carbon footprint, we offset the full lifecycle of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the beer - right from picking the hops to putting it in the recycling bin. Meaning the net impact of the greenhouse gas emissions for Cascade Green is reduced to zero.
Cascade Green is also one step in a bigger journey for the Cascade Brewery. We have an environmental sustainability program for over a decade, which has enabled us to make some great progress, including reductions in water usage by 30% per unit of production and reductions in green house gas emissions by 16% per unit of production, over the last six years.
Our vision is to continue to reduce Cascade brewery’s environmental impact - how we do that will keep evolving and we are keen to keep you up to date on our progress.”
We decided to test Cascade’s claims - Can a “green”, low-carb beer really be taste any good? Well, we can tell you that this is one of the best, freshest beers we’ve had in years. It goes down well and, unlike some beers, can easily be downed all night long.
The eco-friendly packaging is excellent - the only problem we found was easily tracking it down in our local bottle shops. Being a new product, the retailers seem unable to spot the potential and so far keep limited quantities. Hopefully this will change as the beer gains popularity - so be sure to ask your local beer retailer to stock more if required.
All in all, we’re extremely happy with this product - it’s “green” accredited, the company backs up the hype with sustainable actions, and the products does it’s job wonderfully. (The preservative-free even reduces the day-after pain)
***Note: Cascade Green is currently an advertiser on BeGreen.com.au, our mother site. This prompted to test the product but in no way skewed our judgement - it’s just a good beer.
Welcome to GreenHabits
Welcome to Green Habits - a site dedicated to living a “greener” life.
I’m on a quest to improve my life and my environment by being “greener” - but a green life means a lot more to me than simple energy efficiency or recycling the newspapers.
I believe that living a truly green life encompasses a number of things:
- being “green” in the environmental sense - that is, attempting to reduce our impact on the planet for the benefit of our children and their children
- social responsibility - contributing to the community by donating to local charities, helping out wherever you see fit. This can come in many forms - from assisting the kids’ childcare facility to getting involved in local organisations, to simply helping someone in the street when you see someone in need, which leads to;
- “do unto others” - I’m totally convinced of this principle. When thinking about an act or process simply ask yourself “Would someone doing this to me make me upset?” If you even have to think about the answer is probably to not go through with whatever it was.
Through this site I hope to share my experiences (and those of others) on the road to a greener life - by discovering and practising Green Habits. The idea is to find new green products, services and ideas and try them out - then share the experiences with everyone and build some conversation and action based on the findings.
We will attempt to test new products and services from businesses in the “green” industries - so if you have a product or know of a potentially useful product please let me know and we will try to include it.
Thanks for supporting Green Habits - we’re all in for a ride.
