A Quick Green Beer Guide for St. Patrick's Day

The Green Miles will be at the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Clarendon tonight. But what to drink? Here are a few quick tips for enjoying the holiday sustainably no matter where you are:

Drink Sustainably. Choose a beer from a Brooklyn Brewing & New Belgium Brewing get 100% of their power from renewable energy. California-based Anderson Valley Brewing & Sierra Nevada get significant chunks of their energy from solar power. Bison Brewing, Peak Organic & Wolaver brew organic beer. Among the heavyweights, Anheuser-Busch InBev got the top score in the most recent ClimateCounts.org assessment, making Bud & Bud Light the top big brand choices. Local Options: You can't go wrong at Restaurant Nora, America's first certified organic restaurant. Busboys & Poets, with two locations in DC & one in Shirlington, has Peak Organic on draft.

Drink Locally. Look for beers that were brewed in your area instead of trucked or shipped over long distances requiring large amounts of fossil fuel. Local Options: Dogfish Head, Yuengling, Old Dominion.

Drink Where It's Brewed. Cut your beer's carbon footprint even further by drinking at places that brew their own beer on-site. Local Options: Shenandoah Brewing, Capitol City Brewing, Rock Bottom.

Drink Draft: If all else fails, go with what's on tap. Most bars & restaurants don't recycle, so if you're drinking out of a bottle, it will likely end up in a landfill. But kegs & pint glasses can be reused hundreds or thousands of times.  

For a more detailed rundown, check out my 2009 St. Patrick's Day post. And as always, read Chris O'Brien's Beer Activist blog.

Tips for Finding Real Green Beer

Not plain old beer filled with green dye. Organic beer.

In Arlington, the best selection of organic beer can be found at Lost Dog Cafe in Westover on Washington Blvd., but Shirlington's Busboys & Poets is coming on strong with Wolaver's Organic and Peak Organic available. Boulevard Woodgrill in Clarendon usually has at least one organic beer available. At Washington Blvd. & Pershing Drive, Tallula's EatBar carries Samuel Smith Organic Lager, but it's expensive at $11.50 a bottle and not that good.

In DC's Dupont Circle, you can find organic beer at Brickskeller and Restaurant Nora, and Peak Organic is now flowing at Rocket Bar, Tryst, Open City, Wonderland Ballroom, J. Paul's, Hook, Oceanaire, Les Halles, Cafe Saint Ex, Busboys, Ulah Bistro, The Reef, and Kramerbooks.

At the grocery store, Whole Foods has a good selection, including Wolaver (my favorite: the Wit Bier). Harris Teeter carries Peak Organic's Pale Ale and Anheuser-Busch's organic Wild Hop Lager and Stone Mill Pale Ale. The Trader Joe's out on Route 7 has some local brews but not many organic selections. If you live outside the DC area, the National Geographic's Green Guide has a great review of what's available.

Locally-brewed beers have less of an impact on the environment because they don't have to be shipped in from Colorado or Germany, a concept known as food miles. Local breweries include Dominion (in Ashburn) and Shenandoah Brewing (in Alexandria).

If you're at a bar with no organic or local options, I'd suggest two options to reduce your environmental footprint:

* Order a draft. Few bars and restaurants have good recycling programs, so your empty beer bottle is likely headed for a landfill. But a pint glass will be used hundreds (if not thousands) of times.

* Go with a beer from Anheuser-Busch, maker of Bud, Busch, Michelob, Natty, Rolling Rock, and other beers. Anheuser-Busch is actively reducing its carbon footprint and increasing its use of renewable energy, earning top honors among major breweries in the most recent ClimateCounts.org scorecard.

To read more on sustainable drinking, check out Chris O'Brien's Beer Activist blog!

A New Discovery for Drinking Green on St. Patrick's Day

Well, new to me, anyway. I recently visited Poste in DC's Gallery Place neighborhood on 8th Street NW between the Verizon Center and the Spy Museum. I knew they made great french fries with truffle oil, but I didn't know they carried two varieties of organic beer. Not only that, but they're one of the few places I've ever seen with recycling bins behind the bar.

Other bars and restaurants in DC and Arlington that serve organic beer include ...

• Brickskeller (west of Dupont Circle)
• Lost Dog Cafe (Arlington's Westover neighborhood)
• Restaurant Nora (north of Dupont Circle)
• Tallula (near Clarendon)
• Ted's Montana Grill (Ballston and Crystal City)

Know of others? Post them in the comments!

There's also a great article about green beer options over at the Sierra Club's "The Good Life" blog with details about clean energy initiatives at Sierra Nevada and Brooklyn Brewery, among others.