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Geothermal Beer from Klamath Falls, Oregon

Geothermal Beer from Klamath Falls, Oregon Klamath Basin Brewing Company Website Screenshot
Francisco Rojas 8 Oct 2014

The Klamath Basin Brewing Company in Oregon, US, uses geothermal power not only for heating, but also to make their beers pure in taste and “green” in production.

There is a brewing company in Oregon that uses geothermal for an unconventional purpose… to make their products. The following is a description of their activities as stated in the company’s website.

The Klamath Basin provides many resources for those who live and work here. Along with its remarkable scenery, we enjoy a unique mixture of benefits from its fresh water springs and geothermal resources. Klamath Basin Brewing Company and The Creamery Brewpub and Grill together enjoy both these benefits .

Geothermal resources provide heat to our buildings and sidewalks (even when the snow falls,) and aides us in the brewing process itself. A combination of hot rocks and water like those that created Yellowstone’s geysers have been tapped by the City of Klamath Falls to keep the sidewalks toasty since the early 1980s. They heat downtown buildings, like the Brewpub, as well as numerous other facilities, schools, greenhouses and the OIT college campus. It has been pointed out that “Geothermal wells in Klamath Falls mark one of the nation’s most ambitious uses of a green energy resource with a tiny carbon footprint, and could serve as a model for a still-fledgling industry that is gaining steam with $338 million in stimulus funds and more than 100 projects nationwide.”

One of the many other things that make Klamath Basin Brewing Company unique is our water. It comes from naturally fed underground rivers that flow from the Cascade Mountains and Crater Lake area and provide our city wells with exceptionally pure water. In the brewing process, this crystal clear mountain water is heated by heat exchange units, powered by our geothermal district heating system. We are the only known brewing operation that uses geo-thermally heated water for beer production. All this helps to make our brews exceptional, pure in taste and “green” in production.

Source: Klamath Basin Brewing Company Website