PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Craft Brew Alliance, Inc. (“CBA”) (Nasdaq: BREW), a leading craft brewing company, today announced the release of its fifth Annual Sustainability Report, highlighting the company’s 2017 accomplishments in environmental and community stewardship, including progress against its three-year targets for reducing carbon emissions, diverting waste from landfills, and increasing local community support. In addition to publishing its annual sustainability achievements, CBA is also pleased to share highlights from this past Earth Day, with each of its locations participating in volunteer events to support environmental awareness and enhancement.

“As one of the largest craft brewers in the U.S., we’re committed to investing in innovative ways to improve the sustainability of our business – from reducing our carbon emissions, to repurposing more in order to get closer to zero waste, to actively improving the communities where we brew, live, and play,” said Julia Person, Corporate Sustainability Manager, CBA. “This year’s report includes some great examples of how our teams keep getting more and more creative, not just with the beers we brew, but in the sustainable ways we brew them.”

2017 CBA Sustainability Report Highlights

• We reduced our Scope 1 and 2 CO₂ emissions per barrel by 4.5%, which means we’re well on our way to achieving our three-year target of an overall 10% reduction by end of 2019.
• Across our breweries, we held energy-saving Treasure Hunts with local partners, which helped uncover more than 70 small but impactful opportunities to reduce our energy footprint.
• Sending our spent grain to local cattle farms and partnering with local non-profits to repurpose our unused cardboard helped us get closer to achieving our 99.8% landfill diversion target, as we strive to become zero waste.
• Our employees donated more than 300 volunteer hours to support non-profits last year, and our local giving program supported hundreds of charitable organizations that are working to enhance our communities.
• Our Widmer Brothers brewery in Portland became one of the first breweries in the Pacific Northwest to install a CO₂ recovery system, closing the CO₂ loop and saving thousands of tons of CO₂ from being shipped to the brewery.
• Redhook’s new Brewlab invested in a High Efficiency Brewing System that uses a mash filter instead of a lauter tun to conserve water and grain.
• Each of our breweries developed limited-release beers to support environmental awareness, from Kona Brewing Co.’s Lehua Lager, which helped raise money and awareness to protect an important native tree species, to Widmer Brothers and Redhook, which both brewed special Earth Day beers using sustainably sourced ingredients.
• CBA’s full 2017 Annual Sustainability Report can be found on our website here.

Brewery 2018 Earth Day Events

CBA’s brands and breweries are active in their local communities. Each Earth Day, we partner with great local organizations that are working to improve our environment and our communities. Following is a summary of our 2018 Earth Day events and the organizations we supported.

• In Hawaii, our two Kona brewpubs featured special Earth Day “Hipa Hipa” Happy Hours, with a portion of all Big Wave pint sales going to support the four long-time non-profits, Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative, Malama Manalua, Surfrider Foundation Hawaii, and Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii. Our Kona employees also pitched in for volunteer cleanup events at Old A’s Beach and Skatepark in Kona and Waimanalo Beach in Oahu.
• In Portland, Widmer Brothers tapped Silver Warrior, a pale ale brewed with Salmon-Safe hops and malts, and volunteered with April Pints for Portland partner, Community Cycling Center, to build bicycles for kids.
• In Seattle, Redhook Brewlab hosted the first IPA Daze, a three-day celebration featuring 35 different IPAs, with a portion of sales from the event going to support the local Seattle Surfrider Chapter.
• In Portsmouth, our Redhook Brewery and Pub teams tapped an Earth Day IPA to benefit Surfrider New Hampshire and volunteered for a cleanup effort at the wall at Hampton Beach.

About Craft Brew Alliance

Craft Brew Alliance (CBA) is an independent craft brewing company that brews, brands, and brings to market world-class American craft beers.

Our distinctive portfolio combines the power of Kona Brewing Company, a dynamic national craft beer brand, with strong regional breweries and innovative lifestyle brands, Appalachian Mountain Brewery, Cisco Brewers, Omission Brewing Co., Redhook Brewery, Square Mile Cider Co., Widmer Brothers Brewing, and Wynwood Brewing Co. CBA nurtures the growth and development of its brands in today’s increasingly competitive beer market through our state-of-the-art brewing and distribution capability, integrated sales and marketing infrastructure, and strong focus on partnerships, local community and sustainability.

Formed in 2008, CBA is headquartered in Portland, Oregon and operates breweries and brewpubs across the U.S. CBA beers are available in all 50 U.S. states and 30 different countries around the world. For more information about CBA and our brands, please visit www.craftbrew.com.

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