Sustainably sourcing quality Australian ingredients to make epic beer

The crew here at Earth Beer Company are amongst a fortunate few Aussies who get to call NSW’s Northern Rivers home. It’s truly a great part of the country that we’re super proud of, and we naturally want to do our part to take care of it as much as we celebrate it.

Sustainability is a big part of the Earth Beer Company ethos and something we’re always trying to improve upon, especially within our brewing process. The beer-making operation can become pretty resource intensive, so reducing this intensity requires a few key components and focus areas working together, which we have outlined below.

Keeping it local

Australia produces some of the world’s best ingredients which we prefer to use versus overseas materials. Not only is the quality incredibly high, but by choosing to use domestically sourced ingredients, we also keep unnecessary logistics impacts lower than what would otherwise come with importing.

In the past year, we began transitioning almost all of our base malt used to brew our beers to local, Aussie-grown grain. Off the back of this approach for our new Aussie Lager, sourcing New South Wales-grown Organic Pilsner malt from Voyager Craft Malts has enabled us to proudly produce our first beer that uses 100% Australian ingredients.

Paddock to Pint 

In continually trying to lower our footprint by buying Australian, we also strive to source and work with local ingredients.

For those that haven’t yet had the opportunity to come and hang at our humble brewery, we’re perfectly nestled just a few minutes from the beach amongst a mature and abundant avocado orchard. 

As such, in preparation for releasing our seasonal organic Avocado Kolsch this spring, we sourced the hundreds of avocados needed straight from our own backyard. Hand-picked and naturally ripened, these delicious and nutritious avocados are a valuable and local Cudgen ingredient that helps make the smooth and creamy Kolsch with a sub-tropical twist.

Waste Not, Want Not

Each batch of hand-crafted beer can produce a fair deal of waste, which we do our very best to handle responsibly. We do two things here. Firstly, our wastewater is dealt with onsite in a septic system that irrigates the Avocado orchard. And secondly, we also ensure that the tonnes of spent grain produced each year go to two local legends who use it to feed their cattle and chickens on a biodynamic farm.

Love to hear more? Brewery tours are back in December so book yourself a spot this summer and come hear the full story of Earth Beer Company and beer we make.