Portland, OR. May 02, 2016 - At the Craft Brewers Conference in Philadelphia this week, ten Certified B Corps (Benefit Corporations) will launch their collaborative beer. BREW the CHANGE was crafted together by the group at Beau’s All Natural Brewing last month. These breweries all believe that business can be a strong force for good in the world, and they’ve come together to celebrate this shared vision with a delicious beer made with B Corp certified ingredients. Certified by B Lab (the nonprofit behind B Corp), these for-profit companies meet higher standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability.
"One of our guiding principles here at B Lab is to take our work, not ourselves seriously,” says Andy Fyfe on the Community Team at B Lab. “While it can be a challenge for business to do well and do good at the same time, these B Corp breweries and ingredients are showing us you can do both, and also have some fun together."
The participating breweries include: Aslan Brewing (Washington), Beau’s All Natural Brewing (Ontario), Bison Brewing (California) Brewery Vivant (Michigan), Bull City Burger and Brewery (North Carolina), Hopworks Urban Brewery (Oregon), New Belgium Brewing (Colorado), North Coast Brewing (California), Persephone Brewing (British Columbia), and Picaroons Traditional Ales (New Brunswick).
“Hopworks has always believed in the direct relationship between business and environmental health,” said Hopworks brewmaster and founder, Christian Ettinger. “It is a wonderful thing to have so many like-minded friends in the industry that use beer as a force for good. Brew The Change embodies this ethos, and we can’t wait to drink it.”
BREW the CHANGE will be pouring at the launch party in Philadelphia on May 4, 2016. RSVP at https://brewthechange.eventbrite.com, or you can stop in to Beau’s All Natural Brewing for a pint. Other B Corp brewers may make it available in their tasting rooms in the future, so stay tuned!
About the beer: The beer includes a subtle staging of wheat and barley malts that were selected to allow ingredients from our Certified B-Corp suppliers to truly shine in this inspired, purpose-driven ale.
Ingredients include: organic honey from The African Bronze Honey Project who are committed to sustainable practice and preserving traditional heritage while creating economic opportunity for independent bee keepers and their families in Africa; organic Chinook hops from Crosby Hop Farms, one of only a handful of Salmon Safe certified hop farms in the U.S.; organic yerba mate from Guayaki, the first Fair Trade Certified yerba mate company in the world; and organic cold-pressed cranberry juice from Starvation Alley Farms, the first certified organic cranberry farm in the state of Washington.
About Hopworks Urban Brewery:
Hopworks Urban Brewery strives to revolutionize and inspire the brewing industry with practices that drive quality, protect the environment and improve the community we live in. Utilizing organic malts and a combination of locally-sourced, organic and Salmon Safe hops, the company’s 20-barrel brewery produces 13,500 barrels of beer and cider a year for HUB’s two brewpubs and for distribution throughout the Northwest. Hopworks is a family-owned and operated business, the first Certified B Corporation brewery in the Pacific Northwest, a gold-level bike friendly business, and is recognized as one of the Best Green Companies To Work For In Oregon. In 2016 Hopworks introduced Gear Up IPA and CranPerry Cider as new year round offerings.
About B Lab:
B Lab is a nonprofit organization that serves a global movement of people using business as a force for good. Its vision is that one day all companies compete not only to be the best in the world, but the Best for the World® and as a result society will enjoy a more shared and durable prosperity. B Lab drives this systemic change by:
· Building a global community of Certified B Corporations who meet the highest standards of verified, overall social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability;
· Promoting Mission Alignment using innovative corporate structures like the benefit corporation to align the interests of business with those of society and to help high impact businesses be built to last;
· Helping tens of thousands of businesses, investors, and institutions Measure What Matters by using the B Impact Assessment and B Analytics to manage their impact -- and the impact of the businesses with whom they work -- with as much rigor as their profits;
· Inspiring millions to join the movement through compelling story-telling by B the Change Media.
