Just Beer: Sustainable Food With a Social Conscience

Sustainability has long been the realm of eco-enthusiasts. Sustainable food is nearly equivalent to organic in many peoples' minds, yet it can be so much more than that if we let it. It's all about the three-legged stool: social, economic and yes, environmental impacts that consider many generations to come. While we think about fair trade coffee, chocolate, and bananas, we don't often think about socially-conscious beer.

So where does beer enter the picture, exactly? There are now organic beers, and there is certainly a lot of local beer out there to satisfy those who are keen to try local beverages as well as partaking of local food. However, adding fair trade and social justice to beer is something that we don't think about very often. Ethical imports? Beer? And the party moves on, with nary a thought to whether our beer is socially sustainable.

Into the mix comes Lhasa Beer, a smooth beer from Tibet. The smooth taste comes from the use of native barley, a hulless barley native to the Tibetan plateau. The barley is mixed with Himalayan spring water and fine, fine hops. A brewery in Lhasa creates the beer. There, unionized workers make a good living wage and receive benefits. The brewery also strives to be sustainable by using energy-saving production processes and recycling grain waste and old bottles.

Instead of branding itself simply as a regional Tibetan beer, the company goes further, donating ten percent of its profits to socially-responsible organizations in Tibet. While many food companies have a section for social responsibility, Lhasa Beer brands itself as a socially-conscious beer from the get go. On Lhasa Beer's home page, the beer and the social sustainability aspects of the beer sit side by side. Good beer, good karma: you can drink the beer and you can take a look at organizations and projects in Tibet. Ten percent of Lhasa Beer's profits go to NGOs that work in Tibet, and the company sponsors nuns and children in Tibet. Lhasa Beer hopes to sponsor a thousand people over the next five years.

Looking for a conversation-starter for a summer barbeque? Searching for a smooth and socially-conscious beer to go with party food? Lhasa beer is available in eight US states and the site has a retail locator. Tastings has labeled the beer both rustic and table-friendly. If sustainability and social justice are on the menu, then find a place for Lhasa Beer in the ice bucket this summer.