Family-run, employee-owned Canadian brewery, Beau’s Brewing Co. has just launched its new ale, Local Organic, as Canada’s most sustainable beer. Brewed with green electricity, it will be the first beer in Canada to be both certified organic and certified carbon neutral and made with 100 percent Ontario hops and 100 percent Quebec malts.

“Craft beer drinkers no longer have to decide between supporting local vs. organic vs. sustainably brewed. With Local Organic, we envisioned combining all these sustainability attributes in one great-tasting beer,” said Beau’s co-founder and CEO, Steve Beauchesne.

Local Organic will be certified carbon neutral by Carbonzero. Beau’s Brewery has partnered with this Toronto-based company to complete a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) that will measure the beer’s carbon impact.

Carbonzero is completing the LCA in alignment with the PAS 2050:2011 standard, which sets out the specifications for the assessment of life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of goods and services. Greenhouse gas emissions associated with the beer’s production and distribution are being measured across all its life cycle stages, from raw material sourcing to distribution and sales, to the disposal of the beer can itself. To compensate for the greenhouse gases that are released from the beer’s life cycle, Beau’s Brewery is investing in Canadian carbon offset projects, which support carbon sequestration and help the beer achieve a carbon neutral status.

“Working with Beau’s to help deliver this project has been a great experience for our team,” says Liam Conway, VP Advisory Services at Carbonzero. “We’re excited to see how Local Organic is received in the craft beer market as a pioneering environmentally focused product.”

Local Organic is brewed with Cascade and Chinook hops that are grown on a handful of certified organic hop farms in Ontario. The certified organic barley malt is supplied by Malterie Frontenac in Thetford Mines, Quebec. “Locking in a supply chain for Local Organic made up entirely of certified organic Ontario and Quebec farmers and processors was a challenge, but one worth taking on,” explains Beau’s co-founder Steve Beauchesne.

Beau’s Local Organic highlights a hazy deep gold with a thick white foam, offering a silky mouthfeel, with malt flavours that are characteristic to Quebec’s Frontenac. The Cascade and Chinook hops deliver big and bright fruity flavours, giving beer lovers a local taste and experience. A QR code on the can links to more about its sustainability story.

Beau’s Local Organic is available from the brewery’s Vankleek Hill Taproom, and Beau’s online store. It has also begun arriving at Ontario LCBO and Quebec beer retailers selling in 473 ml cans for $3.95CA.

Graphics courtesy of Beau’s Brewing Co.