New Hampshire’s Sustainable Craft Beverage Program recognizes Vulgar Brewing Company

The New Hampshire Sustainable Craft Beverage Program recognizing Vulgar Brewing Company in Franklin, N.H., is the latest craft brewery in New Hampshire to be officially recognized in the NHDES Sustainable Craft Beverage Recognition Program.

This craft brewery with English pub vibes was founded in 2018 with the name Vulgar, meaning the language of the common folk. Their goal is to support local producers by purchasing ingredients from local farmers and create a community gathering place where everyone feels welcome.

This microbrewery on Main Street in Franklin has made sustainability a part of the brewing process. It uses an age-old process called spunding, where carbon dioxide (CO2), which is naturally released by yeast, is captured to provide natural carbonation to the beer. This makes the beer ready for packaging without the need to add outside CO2 for carbonation. CO2 is expensive, often hard to find during the busy summer months, and travels a long way on trucks to reach breweries -- which ironically produces even more CO2. An added benefit to spunding is that the process requires less time to produce the beer, resulting in more beer in less time than those breweries that add CO2. In addition to this production change, Vulgar Brewing has all LED lighting, reuses cleaning chemicals and hot water, and has an on-demand hot water heater. This refurbished space, once used as the town stables, is now a craft brewery and pizzeria leading the way in sustainability. That is why the New Hampshire Pollution Prevention Program (NHPPP) is proud to recognize Vulgar Brewing as part of the Sustainable Craft Beverage Recognition Program.

NHPPP is a non-regulatory business assistance program founded in 1991. The program offers free technical assistance to all businesses and organizations throughout New Hampshire by helping them to reduce waste and save money. The new Sustainable Craft Beverage Recognition Program expands on work the Pollution Prevention Program has been doing with the craft beverage industry to improve energy efficiency, conserve water, minimize waste, and reduce the volume and strength of wastewater. The programs’ goal is to publicly recognize craft beverage producers who are making sustainable choices, preventing pollution, conserving resources and encouraging other producers to implement sustainable practices.

The Sustainable Craft Beverage Recognition Program, a partnership with NHPPP, the New Hampshire Brewers Association, NHSAVES, Eversource, NH Electric Co-op, Unitil, Liberty and the BrewLab at the University of New Hampshire, is a free, voluntary program offered to environmental leaders in the craft beverage industry who go above and beyond to produce high quality eco-friendly craft beverages. Recognition requires the completion of an application and a site visit by NHPPP staff for verification. This visit also gives NHPPP staff the opportunity to offer suggestions for further reductions. For more information visit the New Hampshire Sustainable Craft Beverages Program webpage or contact Kathy Black at kathryn.black@des.nh.gov  or (603) 271-6460.