Craft beer saves salmon: Deschutes Brewery, Columbia Distributing support Salmon-Safe

Philanthropic craft beer helps ensure the future of nature’s greatest freshwater fish.

We here at CBB believe that preserving our natural environment is a craft credo, so we tip our hats this Memorial Day week to a deserving craft beer and distributor. Salmon-Safe, a non-profit organization that is dedicated to restoring Pacific Northwest salmon watersheds, recently announced receiving a $16,600 donation from the Deschutes Brewery and Columbia Distributing Beer Machines Party held in Portland last month. The party, which was held during the annual Craft Brewers Conference, featured steam-punk style beer machines built by local artists. The donation was comprised of artist sales of the beer machines, with a matching donation from Deschutes Brewery.

“For us as brewers, we’ve been long-time supporters of Salmon-Safe and their work with hop growers to increase environmental sustainability,” said Angela Jasus, field marketing manager at Deschutes Brewery. “Partnering with them for a fantastic event like this one was a perfect fit and we were happy to be able to further support the important conservation work that they are doing.”

Deschutes Brewery was the first brewer to source Salmon-Safe certified hops and continues to be a national champion of environmentally certified hops, as well as many other environmental causes. The money raised from the Beer Machines event will be devoted to transitioning more Willamette Valley and Yakima hop growers to salmon-safe practices that protect water quality and wildlife habitat. This is important work for Salmon-Safe because 90 percent of U.S. hops are sourced from two northwest salmon watersheds.

Dan Kent, co-founder and executive director for Salmon Safe, said: “The opportunity to join with Deschutes for Beer Machines was about elevating the visibility of environmentally certified Willamette Valley and Yakima hops to a national audience of craft brewers. And it was an epic party too.”