Great Lakes Brewing Company has become a symbol of sustainability, innovation and free enterprise in Greater Cleveland over the last 21 years. It’s a distinction co-founder Pat Conway is endlessly proud of.
“Our aim has always been on always being innovative, and to do different things, but not at the expense of throwing away ideas that have met with tremendous success.”
That approach certainly applies to most everything that Conway and his brother Dan have touched since founding the award-winning brewery in 1987, including the Burning River Fest they helm each year.
When Conway and his brother chose Ohio City as the location for their brewery and pub more than two decades ago, they never envisioned the tremendous growth they’d experience and the far-reaching impact it would have on the Ohio City neighborhood. The brewery’s investment has led to retail and residential expansion and outlay in the neighborhood, making the locale a destination for residents and visitors alike.
Walking the Walk
Great Lakes Brewing Company walks every step of their environmental protection and sustainability talk. The company follows a myriad of eco-friendly business principles, including:
- Using local/organic food from area farms, including an exclusive “Pint Size Farm” at Hale Farm & Village
- Composting leftovers and other crude organic matter from the brewery and brew pub;
- Providing leftover grain from the brewing process to local farmers as livestock feed, and to area bakers for baking;
- Great Lakes’ delivery trucks and “Fatty Wagon” customer shuttle are equipped to use biodiesel and left-over vegetable oil from the restaurant.
The Conway crew also uses recycled promotional materials as fuel for heating the first straw-bale structure in Cleveland, the brewery’s indoor-outdoor bier garten, which also features a retractable roof, and utilizes outdoor air during winter months for refrigeration, in lieu of conventional energy-gobbling refrigeration units.
Great Lakes Environmental Programs Coordinator Saul Kliorys preaches the company’s “Triple Bottom Line” approach (which can be found at the Great Lakes Brewing Company sustainability site) through participation in groups, such as Zero Waste Northeast Ohio and Entrepreneurs for Sustainability, helping to energize other sustainability-minded entrepreneurs and business owners across the region, and in programs held by those groups and Great Lakes.
Burning River Fest hits this Saturday and Sunday, July 24-25.
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