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Additional information on this topic provided below.
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A Super Bowl Tradition
By Kelly Meinhart
 ooking
back on the festivities of Super Bowl XXXVII, you may find that
you drank your share of a favorite football tradition –
beer. And if you live in Western Pennsylvania, chances are that
you were partaking of your favorite local brew, Rolling Rock.
 he
Latrobe Brewing Company, brewers of this distinctive beverage,
have a long tradition in their hometown of Latrobe, one that
began way back in the year 1933 when the brewery was bought
by the Tito brothers. Since then Rolling Rock has become a hometown
and international favorite with it’s distinctively bold
taste, green bottle, and of course, the lore and legend of what’s
behind the “33”.
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 f
you’re wondering what my water connection is, I’ll
give it to you. It takes a lot of water to process and brew
beer. The water used to brew the line of beers offered at the
Latrobe Brewing Company comes directly from the Loyalhanna Creek,
which runs through the beautiful Laurel Highlands. So that means
that they have a great responsibility to not only conserve water
in their processing, but also to insure that they don’t
pollute local water resources by releasing any byproducts back
into the stream. It’s a responsibility that the company
takes very seriously; Chris Hesson, Quality Technical Manager
at Latrobe Brewing Company, comments:
Latrobe Brewing Company uses environmentally
friendly procedures and processes to reduce the amount of
water used in all our processes. Examples are: reusing rinse
water as pre-rinse water, recovery of steam condensate, closed
loop systems on our cooling waters, installation of newest
technology pasteurizers and rinsers that use minimal water
in their process, as well as installing water meters in specific
areas to pinpoint water usage. Our water usage had decreased
from a level of 7.8 gal/gal of beer produced in 2000 to 6.85
gal/gal of beer produced in 2002 a reduction of 12.2%. We
are very proud of our accomplishments to date and we are dedicated
to continuing our success.
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might wonder how it came to be that I got involved with Rolling
Rock and the whole brewing process. Carole Wright of the Loyalhanna
Watershed Association organized a community program called ‘Sources
and Solutions.’ The program offers a variety of tours
around the watershed, unique tours that feature trips to facilities
that present environmental challenges to our land and water.
The programs involved focus on the balance that must be created
between a source and its solution. Several tours were offered
throughout the course of five months, including a tour of the
Rolling Rock brewery. Myself and approximately 20 others were
treated to real ‘inside look’ at the process, from
where the water enters the building, to how they get the carbon
dioxide into the bottles, to the entire packaging process. It
was really quite amazing, and gave everyone a good insight as
to how much water it takes to brew one of America’s favorite
drinks. In fact, we learned that it takes approximately 250,000
gallons of water each day, producing 41,000 gallons of beer.
That’s every day! But it’s obvious that the brewery
takes great care to reuse water throughout the plant, as well
as reusing and recycling other materials as well.
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with the brewery tour, participants visited the Conemaugh Power
Plant and the Kiski Water Authority, as well as a trip deep
inside the earth to an active limestone quarry to see how limestone
is removed from the mountains.
 arole
organized the program with the help of a regional watershed
support initiative grant from the office of the Western Pennsylvania
Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation. (WPCAMR). This year’s
tour program was such a success that it has been renewed for
a second round, and Carole is currently organizing the next
round of exciting programs. Carole writes:
The idea for Sources and Solutions originated
with my own curiosity. I wanted to learn more about the sources
of the pollution problems that I was facing every day in my
watershed. In asking our membership and my peers, I discovered
that I was not the only person who was curious! The idea became
an educational program after receiving funding from WPCAMR
and I worked quickly to arrange the tours. Over 50 folks attended
tours... some were interested members, professionals from the
community, and even members from other watershed groups came
along.
The most unique tour was the visit to the Limestone Quarry.
Being able to travel inside the mine and observe mining in
action was fascinating. Overall, the feedback regarding the
tours has been overwhelming. The Rolling Rock Brewery Tour
was a favorite of mine as well. I was surprised to learn about
the methods they use to conserve water and carbon dioxide
gas during the brewing process. Additionally, it was nice
to see an industry, such as the brewery, embracing its history
and the community in such a positive way.
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t’s
clear that the Latrobe Brewing Company does care about their
community, and the Loyalhanna Creek. They not only protect it
from possible harm from their brewing processes, but they’ve
even been known to put on a pair of hip waders as well... Chris
Hesson explains:
We have audited and studied our processes and
have determined that none of our processes could contaminate
the creek. All of our wastewater is discharged to the sanitary
sewer. We work with the local fire department and they have
done trainings on isolating rainwater drains from the creek
in the event of a fuel spill from a truck or car. That would
be the primary potential contamination at this site. In addition,
in 2001 we organized a creek clean up with our employees,
and we received help from various groups and the town of Latrobe.
We removed many items from the creek that had come from upstream,
including 70 old tires, a bicycle, a half of a canoe, and
a wheelchair.
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To find out more information about the next round of tours,
and how you can participate, contact Carole Wright at the Loyalhanna
Watershed Association at (724)-238-7560, or go online to their
website.
Check out past features of the Loyalhanna
Watershed Association.
Learn more about the Latrobe
Brewing Company.
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