Great Lakes Brewing: Saving the planet one beer at a time

by Katie Hammel on

At a recent farm dinner I attended, a multi-course meal of farm-fresh, organic ingredients was paired with beers from Great Lakes Brewing. As we dined and drank, we were treated to an informal lesson on brewing from owner Pat Conway, who also gave us the lowdown on the many greet initiatives that Great Lakes has undertaken in an effort to be environmentally responsible while producing top-notch beer. It’s a philosophy that the company calls a “triple bottom line” – a mission to run an environmentally and socially responsible business while still turning a profit – and it seems to be paying off.

The Cleveland, Ohio, brewery opened in 1988 as the state’s first micro-brewery and has been growing, and racking up awards, ever since. The Dortmunder Gold, one of the brewery’s first beers, was originally called the Heisman. After it won a gold medal in the Dortmunder category at the Great American Beer Festival in 1990, the New York Athletic Club noticed that the Heisman name was be used and requested it be changed. Other beers are more fancifully named and reflect the brewery’s location in the Great Lakes Region. There’s Edmund Fitzgerald Porter, honoring the boat that famously sank in Lake Superior; Eliot Ness, named for the man rumored to be responsible for the bullet holes in the brewery’s bar; and Burning River, a nod to the infamous burning of the Cuyahoga River in 1969.

But what makes these beers so special, aside from the quirky names and indisputable quality (each has won numerous Gold Medals at competitions around the world), is that they are produced using so many green and sustainable methods. The owners, brothers Pat and Daniel Conway, say they take a full-circle approach to reduce waste and make the company more efficient. This approach has filtered down to all levels of staff, and dictates the methods used in all aspects of the business.

The brewery’s delivery truck and shuttle bus run on recycled restaurant vegetable oil, and they require that the trucks used by their distributors do the same. All cardboard, glass, aluminum, paper and brewer’s barley is recycled. Newsletters, napkins, and menus are printed on recycled paper, all beer packaging is done with unbleached “eco-carton” and Pat says they even go so far as to re-use the blank sides of printer paper for internal documents. The brewery cooler features skylights and sensors to reduce electricity used for lighting, and the cooling system brings in cold air from outside in the winter to reduce the amount of energy required to keep the temperature constant.

Great Lakes works with local organic farmers to serve only the freshest food in their restaurant. Currently, 60% of their food supply comes from local and organic sources, though Pat says they are striving for 100%. They recently contracted with an Amish farmer who will provide the kitchen with meat from animals that graze on the brewery’s own barley waste. Spent grain goes to a baker who makes pretzels and beer-bread served at the restaurant, and another local farm uses brewery grains to fertilize the organic mushrooms they grow and then sell back to Great Lakes for use in entrees. Other organic waste is fed to worms. In a process called vermicomposting, the worms turn the waste into fertilizer, which is used to grow herbs in the brewery’s garden. Even the low-fill beers (beers that aren’t quite filled to the top by the bottling machinery) are saved and used for sauces, salad dressings, and soups. The low-filled Edmund Fitzgerald Porter bottles are used by a local ice cream shop to make chocolate chunk ice cream.

The brewery’s outdoor beer garden is also eco-friendly. Rather than let the space go to waste during Cleveland’s bitterly-cold winters, the Conway brothers decided to cover it with a retractable canvas roofing, packed straw bales into the walls for insulation, and added a fireplace to warm the space. They were using wood logs for the fire, until one employee had a bright idea. Instead of composting the spent cinnamon sticks used to make the Christmas Ale, why not compress them into logs to fuel the beer garden fireplace? The result of all these features is that, even on the coldest days of winter, it costs just $8 per day to heat the beer garden.

The result of all these sustainable efforts is staggering. Great Lakes Brewing, a $25 million business, has zero waste bills. Pat says he looks at waste removal as “waste opportunity” and is always searching for new ways to make the business green, and keep it growing. But the brothers aren’t just pocketing all that profit. The company also contributes to the community. Every year they participate in the Great Lakes Burning River Festival, which raises awareness and funds for environmental cleanup in the Great Lakes Region. An environmentally responsible company that gives back to the community and makes delicious craft beer – I think we can all cheers to that.

If you can make it out the Cleveland brewery, in addition to dining in the brewpub or enjoying drinks in the beer garden, you can take a guided tour of the brewery facilities, attend “beer school” to learn all about the brewing process, or enjoy a multi-course Brewmaster’s dinner paired with beer. You can also find Great Lakes beers in Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and West Virginia.

Travel Read: The 10 Best of Everything for Families

by Jamie Rhein on

With summer coming to a close, don’t despair. Use Labor Day’s respite from work as a time to set your sights on future travel. Pouring over the pages of National Geographic’s 10 Best of Everything for Families by Susan H. Magsamen is an eye-candy path to an ideas bonanza. Having future travel goals can help one feel better about being back to work or school.

When I leafed through this book, it was clear, it could take years to sample even a fraction of the ideas. Close to home or far away, the “10 best of everything” includes 10 several times over. For example, do you want to know where you can find the 10 best sandcastle competitions? The 10 best coastal cliffs? How about the 10 best farm visits? The 10 best African gatherings? It’s all here and more.

Magsamen must have had a time of it keeping track of her notes and figuring out how best to organize this vast body of information. The result is impressive.

The book is divided into thematic topics that first covers the different regions of the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii, and then tackles the U.S. as a whole. No matter what your pleasure, there are destinations a-plenty with appeal for a multiple age crowd. Keep the book’s organization in mind while you browse. I kept having “Aha moments” as in, “so that’s how this book is organized. Clever.”

For example, categories like the “ten best regional specialties” and the “ten best parks and playgrounds” are repeated for each region in chapter one, “The spirit of exploration.” As you move through the pages, you learn about the regions of the U.S. and their simple to access travel options.

To find out things like the best caves in the U.S., however, look in “ten best depths” in chapter three–“traveling to learn.” Both Mammoth Cave in Kentucky and Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, my two favorite caves destinations, are listed with brief descriptions of each. Plus, there are eight more caves. This chapter is also where you’ll find out about African gatherings, as well as, several other events that are ethnic group related. These are only part of the categories.

If your sights are set past the U.S. borders, turn to chapter five, “see the world.” Here are suggestions of the you can’t go wrong going here type destinations.

The last three chapters of the book, “travel wish list,’ “family memories” and “resources” are a round-up of personal experiences and travel tools.

Throughout the book there are quotes, factoids and travel tips related to each topic that fill out the reading pleasure.

Although this is not a book that will give you all the nuts and bolts of a particular destination, it’s a glorious buffet of ideas to return to again and again. The message of the wealth is that you’d better get cracking because there is A LOT to see–as in 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 . . . Pick up the book and you’ll know what I mean.

Oh, yeah. The most important messages are that family travel is fun, and it doesn’t take as much effort or money as one might think.

How to host a multi-cultural Labor Day barbecue

by Katie Hammel on

Labor Day is a quintessential American holiday. It’s a day to honor the workers, spend time with friends and family, and traditionally, to enjoy one last blow-out backyard barbecue before the cold weather sets in. Burgers, beers, and the all-American apple pie may be the staples, but since America is such a melting pot, why not honor that with a more international array of food and drink? Whether your ancestors arrived in America hundreds of years ago, or just within the last decade, showcase your heritage and the cultures of your closest friends by serving up some traditional cuisines from around the world. It doesn’t have to be a big hassle, you can make it as simple or complex as you like. Here are a few ideas for an international-themed Labor Day barbecue.

Host an International Happy Hour
Spicing up your drink offerings is the easiest way to add more international variety to your party. Nearly every country brews its own beer and, aside from the obvious Dos Equis from Mexico and Heineken from The Netherlands, it’s easy to find Pilsner Urquell (Czech Republic), Quilmes (Argentina) and even Tsingtao (China) beer at most local stores. Wine is an easy option too. We all know the major players like Italy and France, but Hungary, Chile, South Africa, Croatia, and many other countries also produce wine. If you plan on serving liquor, set up a signature drinks station. Allow guests to mix their own Brazilian Caipirinhas, Peruvian Pisco Sours, or Italian Spritzs.

Dress Up Your Burgers and Hot Dogs
If you wouldn’t dare not serve burgers at your barbecue, you can still fancy them up with some toppings that reflect international cuisines. Add guacamole or cotija cheese to Mexican burgers, Brie cheese and fried shallots for French flair, or Feta cheese and spinach on Greek lamb burgers. You can also swap hot dogs for meats from various regions – go with spicy Spanish chorizo, German bratwurst with sauerkraut or Turkish doner in pita with yogurt sauce. Kebabs also work well. Try pork glazed with Chinese hoisin, or chicken in an Indian tikka masala sauce, skewered with appropriate veggies. Apply the same rules to your side dishes. Share the workload with friends by asking them to bring dishes that represent their heritage to serve on the side.

Don’t Forget Dessert
Dessert is another area where it’s easy to get creative while still offering a delicious end to the meal. It’s also okay to “cheat” a bit here, and buy some of the ingredients pre-made from the grocery store. Bake (or buy) some Greek baklava, serve French crepes topped with ice cream, Italian tiramisu, or Mexican tres leches cake.

Obviously, these are just a few of the options available. Check websites like All Recipes, consult with family or friends, or make your favorite handed-down-through-generations recipe. And if you have a great recipe you’re willing to share, please post it in the comments.

Chicago City Provisions organic farm dinners

by Katie Hammel on

It’s Green Travel Month here at Gadling, so to get into the green spirit, I booked a special dinner with Chicago’s City Provisions Catering and Events, an eco-friendly catering company. City Provisions works with local farmers and suppliers, sends its organic waste back to farmers for composting, and sources all of its ingredients from organic and sustainable providers. The company offers catering services both off-site and at its city space, and is in the process of opening up a deli. It also hosts a monthly supperclub. In winter, dinners are held at the storefront location, but in the warmer months the meal is served out on a local farm, using fresh ingredients grown on-site. August’s dinner was held at Heritage Prairie Farm, about an hour north of Chicago. Heritage Prairie also does its owns farm dinners, but drinks and transportation are not included, as they are with City Provisions.

At 1 p.m., my husband and I arrived at the City Provisions location in Chicago. While we checked in, we were offered soft drinks – served in 100% compostable glasses – and light snacks. Then we, and the 38 other diners, boarded the biodiesel bus for the ride out to the farm. Along the way, we were introduced to Cleetus, the mastermind behind City Provisions. We enjoyed some BLT sandwiches, tomato gazpacho, and Great Lakes Brewing beers, and prepared ourselves for the upcoming feast.

Once at the farm, we met the owners and the farmers who work the land. They led us on a tour of the small property and explained the sustainable practices they employ to make the farm as efficient as possible. While Heritage Prairie is not a certified organic farm, the methods they use, such as allowing weeds to grow in certain areas rather than using pesticides, are green and eco-friendly. One of the most unique features of the farm is the three movable greenhouses, which allow the farmers to engaging in a practice known as “four-season farming”. The greenhouses are on tracks and can be moved up and down the length of the field, covering different sections as needed. This allows the farm to harvest some crops as late as January, long past the time when most other farms have halted their efforts for the year.

The tour took us through one of the smaller greenhouses, where we saw the wooden growing beds where seeds were left to germinate. Due to the farm’s small size, it’s very important that it be as efficient as possible. To ensure that every inch of the field is productive, the soil beds in the growing greenhouse are cut up into smaller squares, and only the successful ones are moved to the field. In this way, no field space is wasted. After exploring the grounds, we browsed through the farm’s market for honey made on-site and fresh produce and herbs grown at the farm.

By 5 p.m., we were sitting down to dinner at an elegantly-dressed table in the field. As we helped ourselves to baby eggplant baba ganouj with pita chips, servers began pouring the beer that would accompany each course. Provided by Great Lakes Brewing, one of the most environmentally-responsible brewers in the US, the beer was paired according to each course, and many of the dishes utilized the beer for their sauces.

Over the next three hours, we enjoyed five courses of delicious, fresh-from-the-farm food expertly prepared by the City Provisions chefs, who were all decked out in organic cotton chef’s jackets that had buttons made from nuts rather than plastic. Between each course, we had the chance to mingle with fellow diners and we learned about the process of brewing beer and about the sustainable practices at Great Lakes Brewing from owner Pat Conway.

Our first course, a delicate micro-green salad, was topped with sun gold tomatoes and a vinaigrette made with Grassroots beer from Great Lakes and honey produced on the farm. Next came a colorful mix of seared rainbow chard, baby leeks, currants and pine nuts, with crispy pancetta served over brown rice with a balsamic sauce made from the accompanying Edmund Fitzgerald Porter.

Course three – a zucchini cake topped with basil creme fraiche and served with baby carrots and more of the farm’s microgreens – was just as delightful. By the time course four rolled around, everyone at the table had become fast friends, and we traded stories while oohing and aahing over the grilled pork brat that was topped with grain mustard and served with potato salad and green beans in a browned-butter sauce.

Just when we thought our tummies had been filled to bursting, the final course was brought out. A light-as-air pavlova was topped with caramel-honey cream and fresh peaches and was served alongside a rich Glockenspiel beer. As we licked the last of the cream from our forks and tilted back our glasses to catch the last drops of beer, the chefs were busy setting up another surprise. While dinner had ended, the evening was far from over, and as we stood from the table, we saw that a bonfire had been started, more beer was ready to be consumed, and the ingredients for classic s’mores were laid out nearby. We drank, ate, and relaxed while enjoying the searing colors of the sun setting over the fields.

At 10 p.m., it was time to re-board the bus and return to our city lives. Our indulgent dinner may not have single-handedly saved the planet, but our support of farmers and producers who use sustainable methods may help encourage other restaurants and farmers to take a step in a greener direction too.

Can’t make it to Chicago to book a farm dinner with City Provisions? Here are some other green-focused farm dinners around the country.

Austin, Texas – Dai Due Supper Club
Portland, Oregon – Plate & Pitchfork Farm Dinners
Old Lyme, Connecticut – Dinners at the Farm
Ashville, North Carolina – Maverick Farms
Boulder, Colorado – Meadow Lark Farm Dinners
Point Arena, California – Oz Farm
Various locations – Outstanding in the Field

Drag out summer after Labor Day: 12 ideas

by Jamie Rhein on

So what if it’s almost the end of August, kids are heading back to school in droves, and Labor Day is almost here?

There are ways to drag out that summer feeling with easy-going, inexpensive travel. Pick places that you haven’t been to before to heighten a sense of adventure — something that summers are made for.

Here are 12 ideas to get you started into dragging out summer–at least until the leaves start to change color.

(This gorgeous shot of summer was taken in Ireland.)

1. Go to an old-fashioned ice-cream parlor or stand that you have not been to before and try a new flavor. As treats go, ice-cream is affordable and has nutritional value–if you ignore the sugar and fat. For example, at Tom’s Ice-Cream Bowl in Zanesville, Ohio, there’s a wonderful concoction made with coconut and chocolate chips. Tom’s Ice-Cream Bowl is one of my new favorite travel destinations and worth the drive. If you have a favorite parlor or stand, do tell. (Margot’s is in San Juan Bautista, CA.)

2. Go to a festival–any festival. Although Labor Day festivals abound, look for one that is after Labor Day. The Honeyfest in Lithopolis, Ohio fits that category. Held the first Saturday after Labor Day (this year, Sept. 12), this is a festival that blends music, honey, food and art into a lovely concoction with a summertime feel. I’m sure there are other festivals like this one that are organized by folks who hate to say good-bye to summer as well.

3. Get out that bicycle or the roller blades, strap on a helmet and head out to celebrate your inner child. If you don’t own a bicycle or roller blades, rent. One of my favorite places to rent roller blades is Santa Monica, California. Skate to Venice Beach to browse the craft tables that people set up on weekends. Also, at any given hour, there is someone doing entertainment for donations only. My favorite is the guy who juggles chain saws. (The photo of cyclists and roller bladers by Herkie was taken in Iowa.)

4. Find a historic home that has been turned into a museum. Often these museums are operated by volunteers who are passionate about history and what makes their house museum worth visiting. As a bonus, admission is generally inexpensive. Although hours often are cut back after Labor Day, many historic houses offer a weekend visit option. My favorite house museum is the Dinsmore Homestead near Rabbit Hash, Kentucky, about a half-hour from Cincinnati. Another fascinating home is the Copper King Mansion in Butte, Montana. Again, if you have a favorite historic home, pass along your suggestions.

5. Grab a fishing pole for a lazy hour or two of trying to catch a fish. Even if you end up with nada, watching the water ripple and the clouds move overhead is a cheap summer-like treat. Before you go, find out what the regulations are for a fishing license. In Ohio, people age 15 and under and age 60 and over don’t need a license. My son fished on the Smith River in Montana last summer using a friend’s borrowed pole. This summer was an evening visit to Sharon Woods Metro Park in Westerville, Ohio. Neither experience cost money. State parks are a good place to look for a free to inexpensive fishing location.

6. Take a merry-go-round ride, even if you don’t have a kid with you. Several parks and towns have merry-go-rounds as stand alone attractions. Last summer we took a spin on the merry-go-round in Saratoga, New York. The National Mall in Washington, D.C. also has a merry-go-round, as does Central Park in New York City. For two more carousel gems, check out the one in downtown Mansfield, Ohio, and my favorite, the merry-go-round in Missoula, Montana.

7. Rent a paddle boat for an hour. If you have more than two people who want to take a paddle boat ride, but you only want to rent for an hour, split the hour with the same boat. We did this in Sturbridge, Massachusetts one summer. Paddle boat rentals, I’ve found, are surprisingly cheap. A little over a week ago, the ONLY cheap thing we did in Greece was rent a paddle boat in Corfu.

8. Go tide-pooling to see what critters have become temporarily caught between the beach and the ocean. Once, near Thomaston, Maine, we spent hours walking along craggy rocks checking out the variety. Of course, Maine can feel nippy come September, but elsewhere, the temperatures are still comfortably summer.

9. It’s not too late to head to a swimming hole and float in an inner tube or swing off a rope to land in the water. The most memorable swimming hole I’ve been to is in New Braunfels, Texas between Austin and San Antonio.

10. Hike to a summit no matter how high the mountain. Getting to the top of a hill can also feel like an accomplishment. The trail to the top of the Sandia Mountains in Albuquerque, New Mexico offers a huge reward those who end up a mile higher than where they started at the parking lot where the trailhead begins. The view from the top is splendid. Look for Mt. Taylor near Grants, New Mexico in the distance.

(Clinton Steeds took this shot on Ryan Mountain at Joshua Tree.)

11. Drive out of town or the city, if that’s where you happen to live,and find a field. Once found, spread out a blanket, lie down and look up at the stars. Find the Big Dipper if nothing else. This summer, in addition to the Big Dipper, I was lucky enough to see shooting stars one night near Telluride, Colorado.

12. Baseball season is not over yet. For a down-home version of baseball, head to a minor league game. Those teams are still into crowd pleasing and involve spectators in the fun of the sport. When we were at an Isotope’s game this summer in Albuquerque, the excitement and fun of spectator participation, turned the kids of friends of ours into baseball fans.

And, one more thing. Wherever you go, wear white. The adage that you aren’t supposed to wear white after Labor Day is made to ignore, particularly by anyone who wants a summery feel.