Five Threads Brewing Company: A Great Local Craft Beer Experience

The Five Threads Brewing Company is a small brewery located in Westlake California. Breweries are inherently water and energy intensive, but many have adopted sustainable practices to reduce their ecological footprint. While Five Threads pursues various environmental initiatives like reusing water to clean kettles or make the next batch of beer, as well as sending spent grain to farmers for cattle feed, there is more that they can do. Currently, the brewery has little incentive to invest in long term green infrastructure like solar panels due to the short-term nature of their lease, and their current goal of raising revenue. This along with their small size makes it harder for them to adopt practices many sustainable breweries have implemented. However, we believe Five Threads may increase profitability while simultaneously reducing their environmental impact. This includes implementing a Bring Back Your Bottle program—giving a 10% discount to customers who bring back their own bottles and thus incentivizing customers to reuse while also reducing costs for new bottle purchases, partner with a local bakery as community outreach, or reuse their bottles in interior designs to create cool backdrops and an overall atmosphere that will generate a greater social media presence.