Located in Shropshire and established by the Davis family in 1993, Hobsons Brewery is potentially the most sustainable brewery currently running in the UK. They withhold strong philosophies that influences the utilisation of both sustainable technologies (i.e. wind turbines) and locally sourced ingredients, with the intent of producing beverages (i.e. beer and cider) of outstanding quality whilst additionally benefitting the environment in the process. Their ethos embraces the following ideologies (http://www.hobsons-brewery.co.uk/culture.aspx)...
- "Locally Sourced - Committed to using locally sourced ingredients where ever possible.
- Authentic - Unique beers are a result of the unique way we approach our business and brewing.
- Trustworthy - Committed to the highest, honest and ethical standards of business and brewing.
- Targeted - Business and brewing with our customer in mind.
- Innovative - Strive to look for new ideas and technologies to aid our business.
- Environmental - Committed to working toward sustainable and regenerative practices."
The Hobsons Brewery's almanac (http://www.hobsons-brewery.co.uk/media/8684/hobsons_almanac%202009.pdf) states, "whatever we do, we will always strive for best practice in our brewing and our production", this ideology is prominent when you acknowledge their renewable effort as well as their physical products. Their bottles of cider and beer are beautifully presented, with the label detailings contributing a rustic charm that transports the consumers imagination to a picturesque rural landscape on a warm summers day. The qualities which both the brewery and its products incorporates into its overall identity is an element I will be taking into consideration when I am designing.
(Sharing the Hobsons Hat)
Finally upon observing the Hobsons website I find that their utilisation of sustainable thinking into their practices is both innovative and efficacious, here is a copy of their webpage entitles 'Our vision is to become the country's leading sustainable brewery' (http://www.hobsons-brewery.co.uk/culture/siba-best-green-business-.aspx), which I have personally highlighted (highlighted key points within their statement).
"Sustainability has become an increasingly important part of what we do at Hobsons and over the past couple of years we have strived to reduce our effect on the environment by embracing sustainable technologies and harnessing the environmental assets where we live. In 2010 we took a step closer and won the SIBA Best Green Business award, being recognised for our comprehensive sustainability package.
Our Sustainable thinking ...
At Hobsons we don't just follow others when it comes to sustainability we also create innovative solutions where there were originally barriers. For example when we were told there were no technologies to simultaneously heat our bottle conditioning room and cool our barrel store utilising a ground source heat pump system we designed our own solution. For the past three years we have created an imaginative yet environmentally efficient system that recovers heat from the cold store return. Four boreholes were sunk providing a constant 11°C of water that is then compressed for heat or cooling or both, it is so effective that we now heat the offices using the same system.
To enhance the efficiency of the ground source heat pump we installed an 11kw GAIA Wind turbine, a pretty twin blade design that powers about a third of the brewery's requirements. When the turbine is used to power the compressors that provide heating/cooling from the boreholes a super efficient system is created.
We have installed a rainwater harvesting system to capture surplus rainwater from the extensive roofs of our barrel and bottle store and utilise this grey water for vehicle washing, general wash-down, hand wash and toilet flushing.
As well as large-scale technologies we have also embraced small changes that all contribute to sustaining our environment. Amongst these changes are the introduction of light weight beer bottles that have reduced our packaging waste. We are also working with the Design Council on new ideas for recycling and producing packaging and fabric from spent grains and hops.
All of the technologies we have introduced are working hard to reduce our environmental impact and to date we have made a reduction of 17.5 tonnes of C02 waste.
Whatever we do, we will always strive for best practice in our brewing and bottling processes and we will continue to be innovative in the ways in which we support our environment."
Examples of Hobsons Brewery Packaging =
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