The Best Sustainable Beer Brands

Let’s face it: when you’re buzzed, you’re probably not thinking too hard about whether your beer was brewed sustainably. So while you’re sober, take a gander at some of the best sustainable beer brands, as voted on by the Green Matters audience. Each of these brands have brews you — and the planet — can feel better about.

The 10 winners of this Green Matters Approved contest are listed below. Read more about our Green Matters Approved contests here.

Allagash Brewing Company, located in Maine, is a Certified B Corp and a Crafted for All Partner. The company has one USDA-certified organic beer called Crosspath Organic Golden Ale, and 100 percent of the company's year-round brews are vegan.

Aslan Brewing Co., located in the Pacific Northwest, is a Certified B Corp with a long history of transparency when it comes to sustainability. The company has its impact reports from 2018-2022 posted on its website, along with its various eco-friendly partnerships, including with Brewshed Alliance and Sustainable Connections. All beer is USDA-certified organic and many of the brews are "salmon-friendly" as well.

Sierra Nevada's product offerings include a few USDA-certified organic brews, such as the Estate Ale and Strainge Beast, which is actually a hard kombucha. The company built the first LEED-certified platform brewery in the U.S. and has a large craft beer solar array. Sierra Nevada also diverts 99.8 percent of waste from landfills and has invested in estate agriculture.

Hopworks Brewery has an adorable name and a great mission: "Beer as a force for good." The company is a Certified B Corp with 90 percent salmon-safe hops and 27 percent USDA-certified organic ingredients. Hopworks currently has three completely organic brews: Golden Hammer Helles Lager, Tree Frog Pale Ale, and Beestly Porter.

Athletic Brewing makes non-alcoholic beer, which allows you to enjoy a brew without worries about hangovers the next day. The company's flagship beers are non-GMO and vegan, and the company's Two for the Trails initiative allows for a portion of its proceeds to maintain and restore hiking trails across the country. Athletic Brewing is a Certified B Corp, and in 2023, installed 60,000 square feet of solar panels at its California brewery.

U.K. brand Toast Brewing is a vegan, Certified B Corp known for making its beer with leftover bakery bread that would have otherwise gone to waste, as an eco-friendly alternative to malted barley. 100 percent of Toast Brewing's profits go to environmental nonprofits, such as the Soil Heroes Foundation, the Rainforest Trust UK, and Plantlife. For transparency's sake, Toast Brewing 2022 impact report is available on its website.

Pure Project is a partner with 1% for the Planet, working on becoming plastic and carbon-neutral, and has a partnership with The Conservation Alliance. The company produces a beer made with organic ingredients called the Kernza Lager, which is the result of a partnership with Patagonia. Kernza is a unqiue low-till grain that is grown organically and regeneratively.

Based in the U.K. but available all around the world, Samuel Smith Brewing makes a wide variety of organic cider and beer. Nearly all products are certified vegan, and the company, which was founded in 1758, claims to be Yorkshire's oldest brewery.

Brewing out of Portland, Maine, Peak Organic Brewing Co. is not only non-GMO and USDA-certified organic, but it has a long history of leading the charge in organic brewing. The craft beer company sources directly from local farms, and is best known for its Happy Hour pilsner and Slim Hazy, a low-calorie IPA. The brand also makes organic hard seltzers.

Great Lakes Brewing Co. uses solar energy and founded the Burning River Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to "improving, maintaining, and celebrating the vitality of our regional freshwater resources." The company also uses ethical sourcing, repurposes its waste, and offers one organic beer (the Organic Pilsner).