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THE NATION’S FIRST 100 PERCENT BIOMASS POWERED BREWERY Revitalizing the economy, recycling resources and really, really good certified organic beer! These are some of the driving forces behind an eco-friendly brewery taking over a former old growth redwood mill. The mill is located in Scotia, California (Humboldt County), the home of Pacific Lumber Company where many jobs have been lost and mills have been closed as part of the decline in the timber industry.
The new 20,000 square foot facility has been built in the converted mill and the brew has begun to flow. The expansion is expected to multiply brewing capacity by ten, from 120 to 1,200 cases a day. It is also making the Eel River Brewing Company even more eco-friendly as the nation’s first 100 percent biomass powered brewer. The biomass power is derived from mill leftovers such as wood chips, bark, scrap lumber and clippings. “Everything we use goes full circle,” said brewery co-owner Ted Vivatson. “If you cut your grass or trim your bushes and bring them down here for disposal we use it for power. Even the building is recycled.” Recycling is a tradition with Eel River Brewing Company whose original brewing facility along with its restaurant and brew pub is also located on the site of a former mill in Fortuna, just minutes away from the new facility in Scotia. Leftover grains from the organic brewing process supplement the diet of the grass-fed cattle the brewery raises providing the organic beef served in the restaurant. Ted and Margaret Vivatson opened Eel River Brewing Company in 1994. Since then it has won many awards for its outstanding brews. In 1999 Eel River Brewing produced its first certified organic ale and now has four distinctive ales that are certified organic. As for revitalizing the economy, the new facility expects to employ at least 30 people when it reaches full capacity within a year. The demand for Eel River Brewing’s organic beer continues to grow nationally, providing an export product for an area whose exports just aren’t what they used to be. Eel River Brewing Company © Organic Beer |
One of the empty mill buildings presented the solution to a problem for Eel River Brewing Company who’s sales have taken off since the brewery became the nation’s first 100 percent certified organic brewery. The problem: where to expand to meet the demand. The solution: one of Pacific Lumber’s closed mills in Scotia. 
