According to the Brewers Association, Oregon ranks 12th in the United States for the number of craft breweries — 318 as of 2023. The Beaver State knows a thing about beer! One of these businesses making a name for itself is the Double Mountain Brewery & Cidery in Hood River, Oregon.
Founded by Matt Swihart and Charlie Devereaux in 2007, the company has three taproom locations: Hood River, Woodstock (Portland), and Overlook (Portland). From the beginning, the brewery has made sustainability a priority with several efforts, including a 25,000-square-foot solar panel installation on the roof of its warehouse in 2018, which it says makes it a net-zero building.
Photo Courtesy Double Mountain Brewery & Cidery
“The brewery uses energy to refrigerate our cider apples and cool our beer at multiple stages of brewing,” Swihart, Double Mountain’s owner and brewmaster, said in a press release. “Investing in sustainable power generation allows us to continue to create great beer and cider without contributing to global warming.”
The company also owns an orchard in the upper valley of Oregon, growing apples, pears, and cherries and locally sourcing other fruit for its ciders and sours.
Photo Courtesy Double Mountain Brewery & Cidery
Perhaps its most significant project is its refillable bottles program, with containers that can be returned, cleaned, and refilled to be sold again. According to Double Mountain, refillable bottles have 90% less of a carbon footprint than cans, can create a circular economy, and make the future sustainable.
The bottles can be reused an average of 25 times, contain no plastic, and with less dissolved oxygen, you get a better-tasting beer or cider.
“A single-use beer bottle, as well as a single-use aluminum can, involves a certain amount of carbon through its life cycle, and most of that is in its manufacturing,” Swihart told Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) in an August “Think Out Loud” segment. “The bulk of the carbon usage is the original manufacturing of that package.”
“So by reuse, you cut that almost in half,” he continued. “The life cycle carbon of a reusable beer bottle, like the one we use in Oregon, is about 69 times less than a single-use recycled beer bottle.”
Photo Courtesy Double Mountain Brewery & Cidery
In 2018, the Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative and Double Mountain partnered with O-I Glass to design a returnable, refillable beer bottle for breweries across the state. The companies follow the rules for distributing recycled bottles found in Oregon’s Bottle Bill. The bill was established in 1971 to address a growing litter problem in the state.
To participate, customers buy a refillable bottle for a $0.10 deposit. Once they enjoy their beer, they return their reusable bottle and get their $0.10 back. They can return these containers to a couple of locations:
- Drop them off at a BottleDrop: Oregon Redemption Center counter.
- Use a green bag and drop the bottles at a BottleDrop Redemption Center, BottleDrop Express, or Partner Retailer drop location.
- Return them to a local retailer like other beverage containers.
BottleDrop sorts, washes, inspects, and delivers the reusable bottles back to Oregon’s craft beverage producers, including Double Mountain.
Reusable bottles are not a new concept. The Container Recycling Institute notes that single-use containers began to dominate drink packaging in the mid-20th century. Before this shift, refillable bottles were how Americans and people worldwide got their beverages — soft drinks, milk, and, yes, beer!
Double Mountain is doing its part to make the past a reality again — one bottle of craft beer or cider at a time.
