Bellingham brewery, Aslan, reflects on the state of their beer, the brewery, and the taproom.

image sourced from Aslan Brewing

Bellingham brewery, Aslan, reflects on the state of their beer, the brewery, and the taproom. Included in their 2020 report is a breakdown of the average employee retention period (in years) ranging from the oldest at 12 years and the youngest at (well) just recently gained. Besides staff, the brand has made inroads towards improving their reputation as a Certified B Corporation member, reduced their carbon footprint and water usage at their taprooms and breweries. Finally, the brewery has improved the percentage of locally sourced kitchen ingredients, donations to local charities, and finally restored the local ecosystem by planting trees for every growler sold at their taprooms. 

Overall, Aslan Brewing has much to congratulate themselves on but they are far from through. 

Employee Retention

Reflecting on 2019, Aslan Brewing establishing competitive wages, insurance programs, 401(k) options, paid-time-off for salaried employees, and free or discounted meals; has retained some 61 employees with a combined approximate 187 years of experience. This has breaks down to around 9600 free shift meals for their staff, nearly twice what it provided in 2018. 

image sourced from Aslan Brewing

Certified B Corporation 

Transitioning to a Certified B Corporation in January 2016, Aslan Brewing was awarded a score of 108.2 in recognition of their commitment to improving both social and environmental standards, while ensuring these commitments are transparent to all. Unlike traditional corporations, B Corps are required to consider the impact of their decisions both to their investor but also those impacted within the supply chain (e.g. employees, suppliers, local and regional community, customers, and the environment). 

As of 2019, the brewery has improved their standing with a score of 112.8. Breaking it down, the brewery received a score of 11.2 for their governance, 15.8 for their support of workers, 38.9 for considering the community impact, and 46.8 for their work with the environment. 

Environmental Recognition

One example of their commitment to improving their standing as a Certified B Corporation has been through reduction in water waste, energy consumption to produce a pint of beer, and solid waste reduction. 

Starting with energy consumption, the brewery uses 15 kWh of wind, 8 kWh of Biogas, and 10 kWh of Solar to produce 15.5 Gallons of beer or 124 pints, at 33 kWh per keg or .266 kWh per pint. Through their participation in Puget Sound Energy’s Green Power Program, the brewery will be assured that 100% of their electricity will be matched with renewable energy. As of this article, the brewery has used 362,080 kWh of Electricity, forty-thousand three hundred seventy Therms of Natural Gas, and 309 Metric Tons of Green Gas Emissions. 

Moving onto their water usage, the brewery uses approximately 1, 392. 273 Gallon of water netting around 7,784 Barrels (or 241, 304 gallons) requiring around 5.9 pints of water to produce 1 pint of beer. When combined with the restaurant, Aslan Brewing uses approximately 2,487, 273 gallons of water each year. To offset this water usage, the brand is partnering with Bonneville Environmental Foundation to offset their water waste usage, by donating to water reclamation and restoration projects - like the Deschutes River project. Current forecast calls for 100% of wastewater usage to be offset in 2021. 

image sourced from Aslan Brewing

Besides water and energy consumption, the brand started initiatives to reduce brewery waste by supplying local farmers with spent grain to farmer like “Farmer Jason”, a friend of the brewery and owners. However, with his pending retirement, plans are already underway to redistribute spent brewery material to a coop of Organic Valley farmers. Lastly, through recycling efforts to remove plastic films found in restaurant and brewery packaging, the brand has recycled approximately 3,888 pounds from landfills. Overall, the brewery has removed 92.87% of their exported waste from landfills. 

image sourced from Aslan Brewing

A commitment for sourcing local ingredients

Since the beginning, Aslan Brewing has sought to source local ingredients, adhering to the Organic-standard. Through their Environmental Purchasing Policy, the brewery’s taproom kitchen has purchased over $350,000 on ingredients from Washington and Northern Oregon, or approximately 42.8% of the total ingredients used in the kitchen. In fact, 17% of their spending was done in both Whatcom and Skagit counties. 

There are times where we must source beer ingredients to a certain region for the sake of authenticity. While these ingredients are organic, we sometimes sacrifice the idea of buying local for making an organic beer that’s true to style. However, we feel strongly that investing in organic products, even ones that aren’t grown close to home, increases future local demand for more organic hops and malt.

Support of the community through fundraising and awareness

Lastly, the brewery is happy to announce they have donated over $33,000, distributed amongst 156 different organizations, hosted over 20 community events, brewed four beers to benefit organizations, and launched a volunteer employee program (resulting in 105 volunteer hours), donated over 2 tons of food (resulting in nearly 5500 meals), all while planting 674 trees through their Growing with Growlers partnership program through the National Forest Foundation. 

image sourced from Aslan Brewing

Breaking it down, the brewery donated: 

$8752.84 towards art & culture, $8,628.58 towards the environment, $6,187.79 to health, $4,862.00 towards the common good, and $4614.00 to education. In addition, the brewery donated 2922 lbs of grain, 546 lbs of produce, 291 lbs. of meat, 14 lbs. of dairy, and 601 lbs. of combined meals. Finally, the brand planted 674 trees through their Growing With Growlers program, in cooperation with The National Forest Foundation. 

Now ask yourself, what did you do in 2019?