Anderson Valley Brewing Company Increases Horsepower, While Remaining Green
(May, 2003) – Anderson Valley Brewing Company recently acquired four English shire horses, two mature geldings and two yearling colts. The large horses are the first step in their plan to offer low-emission, local distribution of their premium quality ales. The brewery will also offer a horse drawn shuttle service for visitors to the brewery.
The geldings, Duke and Dan, each standing about seventeen hands high (an average horse stand about eleven hands), have been drawing wagons, as a team, for approximately twelve years. Each mature horse will be paired with one of the yearling colts, Max and Zack, to assist in the colt’s draught training, and to drive beer and beer lovers to and from the brewery. "This is something we’ve wanted to do for a long time," said brewery Vice President, Kimberly Allen. "The horses are beautiful, and take you back to an era when breweries were smaller, more personal, and provided the local pubs and taverns with superior customer service. We’re still small enough that we can do this, at least on a local scale, and it will be lots of fun for the visitors." The shire horses arrived in early March, from Nebraska and Colorado and have now acclimated to their new, warmer home.
In addition to being a fun and nostalgic way to make beer deliveries, the two-horsepower system is another facet to the company’s environmental commitment. "We truly do our best to keep the environmental impact of the brewery to a minimum," said Brewery President, Ken Allen. "When we built our new facility at the south end of town, we situated the construction site so that only one tree needed to be removed, and we planted two elsewhere in its stead. We reuse as much as possible and recycle all that we can, including glass, plastic, paper, newspaper, cardboard and steel. Our on-site water reclamation ponds are partially aerated through wind power. Our spent grain and hops are donated to local farmers for feed (we even feed a little to the horses), the yeast, and now manure, are used for fertilizer. We even have an all-electrical vehicle for staff members to make short runs into town. With that car and the horses, you could say that we now have a fleet of five low-to no-emission vehicles." The horses can be seen daily, playing and grazing on the 10 acres in front of the brewery.
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