Built upon a foundation of quality beer, grown on sensible business practices and flourishing with a commitment to the community and environment, Great Lakes Brewing Company (GLBC) in Cleveland's historic Ohio City neighborhood uniquely connects with local history, social responsibility, and environmental awareness.

In 1988, the Conway brothers, Patrick and Daniel, turned their vision of a Cleveland microbrewery into a reality. With a commitment to flavorful, fresh, chemical free beer brewed with a nod to European styles and techniques, the brothers opened the first microbrewery in post-prohibition Cleveland. They chose Ohio City for its historical value as the one-time heart of Cleveland's brewing industry and for their own family ties to the area. Their grandfather, Patrick Conway (who adorns the label of Conway's Irish Ale), directed traffic in the neighborhood during his lifetime and their mother, Margaret Conway, worked as a stenographer for Eliot Ness, the federal agent made famous for his strict enforcement of Prohibition in the Great Lakes region.

Keeping family tradition, the Conway brothers continue to value local interaction and use GLBC as a vehicle for social and environmental responsibility. In addition to incorporating an extremely comprehensive recycling policy, they also support local causes. “We'd prefer to spend money and resources [on local nonprofits],” remarked co-owner Patrick Conway, “than on huge campaigns for marketing and advertising.” The company donates to hundreds of local charities that support health, education, history, art, religion, environment, athletics, and other social causes. They are also uniquely involved with a nonprofit project called Cleveland's Summer Sprout Program, a community endeavor devoted to urban gardening and farming, community development, and public education. In exchange for sponsoring student interns, GLBC's restaurant receives weekly harvests from one of the gardens involved in the program called Common Ground Garden, located at East 35th Street and Cedar Avenue. GLBC Executive Chef, Derek Wilson, uses fresh produce from Common Ground Garden in daily specials on the restaurant menu.

TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE
In 2000, GLBC requested an energy audit by the Department of Energy's Industrial Assessment Center at the University of Michigan to determine how a young, small company could successfully become more energy efficient while cutting costs. They also enlisted the assistance of the Oberlin College Environmental Studies program in researching viable green practices. Investing time and money to explore available alternatives and technologies, GLBC has since developed their “triple bottom line” philosophy where they demonstrate a commitment to solutions that make environmental, social, and financial sense. “We want to improve the environment and improve our bottom line,” explained Pat Conway. “We think that it's not mutually exclusive.”

The ideas generated by the energy audits have assisted GLBC in striving for energy efficiency throughout the brewery, restaurant, and offices. Roof insulation has been added and upgraded to reduce heat loss in the company's six buildings. Skylights in the Tank Farm (the area housing the massive steel vessels containing the fermenting beer) allow the use of natural light. The brewery cooler has light sensors to minimize the waste of electricity when no one is present, and also has a system that utilizes Cleveland's cold air during the winter to cool the beer. Most notable, though, is GLBC's production and utilization of a petroleum fuel alternative, biodiesel.

POLLUTION DOWN, FRENCH FRY SALES UP
In a 2002 speech to the green business group, Entrepreneurs for Sustainability, Pat Conway mentioned his interest in recycling the restaurant's spent cooking oil into fuel. Ray Holan, a guest at the presentation, approached him with the ambition to formulate and complete such a project. Conway excitedly responded with, “Bring it on!” Pat, Dan, and Ray worked together to develop Biodiesel Cleveland, the in-house partner company, to further move GLBC towards its goal of zero waste.

Biodiesel is an important alternative to petroleum diesel fuel. It reduces emissions, is a renewable resource, supports the U.S. economy, and decreases our dependence on foreign oil. Biodiesel lubricates better, acts as a solvent to clean fuel systems, and has a higher cetane rating (meaning smoother engine operation) with the same fuel efficiency. Plus, any diesel engine made after 1992 can run on biodiesel without modifications.

NASA, the Cleveland Metroparks, and the Coventry Village Merchants' Association power vehicles with biodiesel produced by Biodiesel Cleveland. GLBC fuels their vehicle, the Fatty Wagon, with biodiesel fuel. The small Fatty Wagon bus, used to shuttle patrons from the restaurant to nearby sports arenas, emits an exhaust that resembles the enticing aroma of french fries, and is thought to have boosted sales. Conway mused, “The people outside here smelled the fumes and were affected subliminally, I guess, because everyone was ordering french fries!”

By recycling the spent cooking oil from GLBC and other area restaurants, Biodiesel Cleveland has also developed a diesel fuel additive called B9. Recognizing, however, that very few people drive diesel cars, GLBC is researching other ways to expand their use of biodiesel. They hope to operate biodiesel generators in the restaurant and brewery to save money and serve as a back up in case of another blackout. In future endeavors, GLBC plans to enclose their beer garden (an outside seating area) in glass and heat it with a furnace run on biodiesel.

THE GREEN GUY
With the assistance of “green guy” Erik Neff, a teacher at The Cleveland Institute of Art, GLBC strives for a zero waste, closed-loop system. Neff, whose sole responsibility at GLBC is to drive the company's environmental initiatives, is the point person for the system and coordinates the community garden harvests, the vermicomposting project which recycles the brewery's spent grains, and the other comprehensive company-wide recycling efforts taking place. By recycling cardboard, glass, plastic, steel/aluminum, and paper, GLBC has reduced trash removal fees by 40%. In order to facilitate the process, and thus encourage employee participation, they invested in a small vehicle to transport materials to the recycling centers. Of course, GLBC also prints their newsletters, menus, promotional items, and beer packaging on recycled paper.

Recognizing fresh water as a valuable resource, especially Northeast Ohio's reliance on the health of Lake Erie, Pat Conway noted, “We have a really strong emphasis on water because over 70% of our body is water and over 90% of beer is water. If one-fifth of the world's fresh water is in our backyard, it behooves us to treat that as a sacred thing.”

TAKE, MAKE, REMAKE
The brewing of beer is a technical process that takes water and grain through an elaborate system of cooking, fermenting, and straining to produce the malted beverage we love. Ordinarily, a brewer would simply dispose of the spent grains by flushing them into the sewer. However, GLBC has found a way to make their award-winning beer and save these by-products, which are actually viable in applications that include baking, gardening, and farming. “Instead of the old paradigm, 'Take, Make, Waste', we like the new way of approaching it: Take, Make, Remake…It's a more cyclical approach to business instead of a linear one, “ said Conway.

GLBC's efforts to remake the spent grains into new products result in a variety of menu items in the restaurant. Zoss the Swiss Baker in Cleveland Heights receives a batch to mix into tasty artisan breads and big soft pretzels. And GLBC regularly ships a truckload down to Killbuck Valley Farms in Burbank, Ohio where Tom and Wendy Wiandt combine it with sawdust to create a substrate for growing organic shiitake and oyster mushrooms. Some of the grain is sent off to Common Ground Garden for use as mulch. Another batch heads to local farms for use as cattle feed, and the farms then provide composed feed to Common Ground Garden as fertilizer. The synergy is complete when the community garden returns a portion of its harvest to the restaurant. And finally, Executive Chef Derek Wilson also cooks with organic plants, herbs, and vegetables from other local farms that utilize fertilizer produced by GLBC's vermicomposting project.

Overseen by “green guy” Neff, GLBC's vermi-composting project presents itself as a dank, dark corner of the brewery basement. It houses five massive bins filled with spent grains, food scraps from the restaurant, shredded and recycled cardboard and paper,and worms. Vermicomposting worms, commonly called red worms, tiger worms, brandlings, angleworms, or red wrigglers (scientifically called Eisenia foetida or Lumbricus rubellas) consume the grains, food, and paper and produce castings or worm waste. In ideal conditions, the worms will eat their weight in organic matter in a day, and the casts they eliminate can be used as very high quality compost. The casts are not only rich in nutrients essential to plant growth but are also disease pathogen free, contain five times more nitrogen, seven times more phosphorous, and eleven times more potassium than ordinary soil. They also have a perfect pH balance, contain plant growth factors, and have a high humic acid content that conditions the soil. Not a bad way to recycle the waste of beer production!

EATING (& DRINKING) YOUR WAY TO A CLEAR CONSCIENCE
To support GLBC's outstanding efforts, stop by the pub and restaurant to sample the fine brews that make Great Lakes Brewing Company famous. Enjoy the smoke-free environment created in an unprecedented move by GLBC in the fall of 2002. Dig into some Dortmunder Sausage, Dortmunder Stilton Cheddar Cheese Soup, or Edmund Fitzgerald Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream (made from low-fill bottles of beer in an effort to eliminate the waste of ones that cannot be sold due to their low volume). Taste the bread and pretzels from Zoss the Swiss Baker, the pizza topped with Killbuck Valley Farms' mushrooms, and the countless other menu items made from Common Ground Garden harvests and other organic produce, cheeses, and free-range meats. Your mouth will smile and your conscience will be clear… although your head may not be after all that award-winning beer!

Great Lakes Brewing Company, located at 2516 Market Avenue in Cleveland's historic Ohio City neighborhood, can be reached by calling (216) 771-4404. The restaurant and bar are open Monday through Thursday from 11:30 am to midnight, and Friday and Saturday from 11:30 am to 1:00 am. More information on the brewery and restaurant can be found at www.greatlakesbrewing.com.