Otter sustainability rewarded

The UK-based Otter Brewery in Luppitt, near Honiton, has scooped a prestigious industry award for its ‘market leading green ethos and unrivalled environmental commitment to producing quality beer’.
The company won the ‘Best Sustainability’ category at the 2011 Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) Business Awards in London, having been praised for a range of green initiatives. These included the use of reed beds to naturally filter waste water, extensive recycling and a bespoke eco cellar designed to harness the earth’s natural core temperature to chill up to 5,000 cases of beer.
The highly commended green ethos of the Otter Brewery was partially implemented by Gloucester-based consultancy, Sustainable Direction, which worked closely as a consultant with the brewery to ensure it reduced its carbon footprint.
“We took on the Otter Brewery as a challenge because the wastage there, as you’d expect with a brewery, was quite considerable and the running costs were very high,” says managing director of Sustainable Direction Dr John Henry Looney. “We designed and implemented a series of processes and concepts that we knew would work in this environment.
“We gave the Otter Brewery the tools and knowledge to go forward with improving their wastage and they have done brilliantly to carry it through and produce amazing results.”
“To be acknowledged by SIBA in this way as a leading light within our industry is a huge honour as we have spent the last 21 years striving to make Otter as environmentally aware and as socially responsible as possible,” adds David McCaig, managing director of The Otter Brewery.”