The most altruistic brewery you know

Great Lakes and Sierra Nevada both seem pretty conscientious about being "green" in terms of being sustainable, recycling, etc. and that's pretty cool indeed!

 

As far as I know, no breweries give beer away to people for free.

 

I have a high regard for those who practice altruism but that doesn't mean I'll pay a premium for their product unless the beer is worth the price point. Yes, I said price point, which I find rolls trippingly off the tongue. Or is that tippingly off the fingertips.

 

Maine Beer Company donates 1% of profit to environmental non-profits, all their tips go to local charities, the brewery is solar powered, and they do some other smaller donation things. I'm sure there are at least a couple other breweries out there doing similar things, but I frequent MBC and see their programs.

 

and boy do they let you know about it (which means it is just another marketing campaign).

 

Lots of franconian country brewers. My prime example would be Brauerei Heckel, Waischenfeld. The family running the business is basically sacrificng themselves for the local community. I mean, 0,5l in their tavern are under 2 Euros, they never take vacations, are always there... Thats why i find it so disrespectfull when tourists come in, get drunk and harress the locals.

 

Weihenstephan has a school which educates brewing, and I'm sure the monks in the abbey are somewhat atruistic donating to missions, etc.

 

And charge a premium for it.

 

Fulton donates a full 10% of their profits to helping small businesses get off the ground - and they do NOT make a big deal about it. I have met Brian, work for one of their distributors, and I have heard almost nothing about this, just noticed a small '10%' graphic on one of our trucks one day.

http://www.fultonbeer.com/about/ful10-fund

 

I've been to dozens that do, and would guess that the total number adds up to hundreds if not more. Heck, my first free beer given by a brewery has consumed in 1970s...

 

Weihenstephan is a Bavarian state owned brewery and the brewing school is affiliated with the Technical University of Munich.

 

Finnegans in St. Paul, MN donates 100% of profits to feeding the hungry in the communities where the beer is purchased.

http://finnegans.org/

 

South Mountain Brewing. Headed there in a few minutes, in fact, to help brew some beer. We don't sell anything. We are homebrewers and give it away and share it all. Very altruistic.

 

Seriously does it really matter what it is, or if they let you know about it, if the money is going to local charities and non profits? I don't see any problem with them telling people what they do, the more money they make the more is getting donated to good causes, unless i'm totally missing something, which is totally possible. So what's the problem?

 

Fiddlehead for their Mastermind releases.

 

14th Star in Vermont. Proceeds from many of their beers go to charitable organizations.

http://www.14thstarbrewing.com/beer/

 

There are very few, if any, businesses or people that donate time or money to a cause and do not mention it. The charity gets funding it otherwise wouldn't, and the business possibly gets a percentage uptick in sales/customer base as a result. That sounds like a win/win for all involved to me.

 

Stone apparently has donated over 3 million dollars
http://www.stonebrewing.com/about/fundraisers#ageGatePassed

NOLA Brewing also supports The Roots of Music through their Rebirth Pale Ale

 

most businesses do what you say. I didn't say there was anything wrong with it, it's just the marketing scheme they choose to use "buy our product and save the planet". There are plenty of companies and people that donate a ton of money and don't tell a soul.