Monday, April 26, 2010

Stupid Volcano, Energy audacity and EcoHumane


So when I heard about the volcano going off in Iceland, I initially had a 'wow, the world is mad at us moment - glad it doesn't impact me though' moment and then showed Ruby, who a few days earlier had told me that volcanos only existed during the time of the dinosaurs, that I wasn't pulling her leg when I said they can still erupt these days.

It wasn't until a few days later that I realized that it would impact me. Beau's has been commissioned by the Dutch government to create a special collaboration beer with the De Koningshoeven Brewery to commemorate the 65th anniversary of Canadian troups liberating Holland. Brew master Lodewijk Swinkels was supposed to fly in to be on hand for the brewing...

Stupid volcano.

Matt spent a good amount of time on the phone with Lodewijk and the brew still went well and we're hoping Lodewijk will be on hand to taste the beer when it is presented in May, but we were really excited to have him here during the brew day. Oh well - the volcano has caused a lot of other people a lot more grief than it did for us, but its not like you can plan for that sort of thing.


On a more upbeat note, we had our consultant in for our Energy audit. We are apparently the first compnay in Eastern Ontario to engage the services of the Guelph Food and Technology Institute's Sustainability Division for their services.

This will be a significant step for us in reducing our carbon footprint. We've been doing small projects over the last couple years, but this represents a big investment and we're hoping it will dramatically reduce our consumption of fossil fuels. It will take about another month to get our results and we'll keep you posted.

And finally, as we work towards our goal of raising $100,000 for worthwhile charities, community building and indie arts, we did a pile of events including a fundraiser for the Brockville Hospital, the Elmwood school in Ottawa, the Ecofair and the Humane Society.