Dornbusch: The Case for Low Mileage Beer
Cerevisia Communications Founder, Horst Dornbusch, raises questions about the practice of breweries expanding distribution over thousands of miles versus doing it locally.
It is obviously a positive sign that craft breweries are gaining strength through higher volumes, but such expansion, when associated with greater distribution areas and longer shipping distances by land and even by sea, may not be the most environmentally responsible way to grow. Considering that foreign breweries of all sizes have been exporting beer to the New World for decades, it seems a natural impulse for the burgeoning American craft brew industry to turn the tables and try to enter the export game as well. But is long-distance beer transport regardless of direction really a good thing?
My beer’s footprint is around 10 feet. Yes, I am a homebrewer.