During the late 1980′s when the craft beer movement was still in its infancy, breweries were limited in their means of distribution, and most placed their beers in barrels or kegs. In 1987, when Full Sail Brewing Brewing Company started in Hood River, Oregon (60 miles east of Portland), it was in the same boat, and during its first year, put all of its beer into 287 barrels. However, the next year, Full Sail became one of the first microbreweries in the Pacific Northwest to bottle its own beer. Years later, in 1999, Full Sail made bold move when it became employee owned. Since then, the employee-owners of Full Sail have committed themselves to remaining innovative, placing their efforts into making good beer and expanding their green initiatives (enough so that they have consistently been ranked as one of the top Green Companies in Oregon) while still remaining one of the top 25 craft breweries in America (by production).
It’s All About the Water
Full Sail Executive Brewmaster Jamie Emmerson stated in a recent interview that Full Sail is a “big water user in a small town.” As such Full Sail focuses on maximizing its water usage in order to decrease its expenses, reduce the strain placed on the municipal water system, and leave a small environmental footprint. Most notably, the brewery accomplishes these goals by reusing their wort cooling water for the next batch of beer. Although a seemingly simple solution, doing so saves over 3 million gallons annually, and streamlines their brewing process, reducing electricity usage. Additionally, by installing efficient filters, Full Sail has also been able to reduce its water to beer ratio to almost 2.5 to 1 (gallons), whereas a typical ratio is 5 or 6 to 1. Full Sail has also installed a water treatment facility on site, which reduces the loading to the municipal water treatment plant by pre-treating the organic content, The treated water is then sold to local farmers who use it for fertilizer.
Responsibility to Employees
Conserving water is not the only way Full Sail contributes to its community. As mentioned above, Full Sail is employee-owned, so essentially, employees own all of the company shares in what is commonly called an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) (a better description is available here). Becoming employee owned is not an easy process, as it involves a sizable amount of administrative oversight plus an almost constant number of third party evaluations and audits, all to ensure proper transparency to employees. In a phone interview, Full Sail Founder & CEO Irene Firmat stressed that all of the extra legwork is worth it for a number of reasons, mostly because, as an ESOP, Full Sail controls its own destiny, and allows employees to continue refining the Full Sail “brand” they have spent years developing. Ms. Firmat noted that many of Full Sail’s contemporaries decided to take their companies in different directions such as going public (IPO), merging or selling to a larger company (all were especially popular among craft breweries in the late 1990′s). Often times the craft brewers lost control over their product and brand, and wound up losing the vision of why they entered into brewing in the first place. Also, Ms. Firmat said that moving to an employee-owned model “basically…seemed like the right thing to do” given all of the hard work of the employees over the years. Finally, Ms. Firmat reiterated that over the past 14 years, the ESOP has increased the sense of ownership among employees, the sense of community with the town of Hood River, and optimism for the future.
Maintaining and Engaging
Full Sail maintains other sustainable initiatives, including a vast recycling program, and an extensive community outreach plan that supports a number of local organizations, especially food banks. Through the Brewers Share Program, Full Sail even allows their brewers to develop their own beers with proceeds going towards a specific charity of the brewers’ choice. It’s all quite a bit for a small business, but Ms. Firmat and Mr. Emmerson were adamant that the programs are not difficult to maintain. Much of the equipment receives regular upkeep as it must be inspected and reviewed by the city or state, and many of the other initiatives come from the “bottom up.” Ms. Firmat made the point that the Full Sail employees truly appreciate the beautiful area in which they work, and that, in turn, has created a heightened sensitivity for Full Sail’s efforts towards the environment. Regarding the maintenance of all of Full Sail’s community outreach programs, Mr. Emmerson responded with a simple, yet knowing phrase: There’s magic in free beer.
Beer – Session Black Lager
Full Sail has a full slate of beers, but its Session Line (Lager, Black Lager, Red Lager) “are all about drinkability,” something that has been lost in recent years as the alcohol percentages in craft beer have been steadily rising. Full Sail efforts towards sessionable beer have not gone unnoticed by their peers, and their Session Line has received with a number of industry awards. The Session Black Lager pours a deep brown, which reflects some dark reddish hues under certain light (see right). It smells of rich roasted malt and chocolate, similar to certain stouts. However, on first sip, the Black Lager tastes much milder than it smells, although you are still getting a that nice roasted malt flavor. Surprisingly, the Black Lager also has a relatively crisp mouthfeel, so it feels as if you are drinking something much lighter. I took my time with this beer, and it warmed up nicely, becoming a bit creamier, but never losing its flavor. This is a good choice for fall football drinking. Note for Hopheads: the hops are very mellow in this one.
Beer Advocate: 3.70/5
Ratebeer: 3.33/5
Mac’s Untapped: 4/5
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