Beer to Bags Sews the Way to Sustainability
I love learning about companies that align with my interests, and I love even more telling others about them. I was thrilled to discover Beer to Bags about a month ago. This is a company and product I can really get behind. It combines two of my favorite things: beer and sustainability!
Beer to Bags is based on a brilliant yet elegant concept: upcycling spent grain bags from breweries into usable totes for brew enthusiasts, like me.
Background and Bags
You cannot gain a full appreciation for Beer to Bags until you know a bit about the founder, Emily Neville of Durham, NC. After just a few conversations with Emily, I believe I can easily sum her up in two words: Entrepreneur Powerhouse. In fact, Neville listed entrepreneurship as one of her hobbies alongside soccer, swimming, running, spending time with her beagle (Oliver), and drinking beer of course!
Neville studied political science at North Carolina State University. In 2017, during her sophomore year, Neville started her first company, Reborn Closet. By her junior year Neville had full time employees and managed to graduate a full semester early (2019).
Reborn Closet, like Beer to Bags, was a one-to-one upcycling company. Customers could send in old t-shirts to be given new life as pet bandanas, pillowcases, or quilts. Like many small businesses, COVID played a significant role in the company’s need to scale down and reimagine.
I asked Neville what motivated her jump to grain bags. In the spring of 2021, Raleigh Brewing reached out to Neville with the concern that they were throwing away about 100 grain bags a week. They knew Reborn Closet did upcycling through these other avenues, and from there, Beer to Bags was born.
Tote Bags made sense. Beer to Bags took spent bags from Raleigh Brewing and upcycled them into totes the brewery could sell as merch. As she started reaching out to other breweries, Neville was excited by the possibility of the repeatable and long-term impact of helping breweries to become more sustainable. Craft breweries may have 20-100 grain bags a week depending on what they are brewing. Furthermore, this issue tends to be more unique for smaller breweries as larger breweries generally do not have grain bags, because they can receive grains by the silo-full on trucks. For this reason, Neville started with local breweries, but has started expanding throughout North Carolina.
Beer to Bags totes were made to order at first but have since expanded to collecting bags for larger projects. This expansion was the result of having more grain bags than needed to meet taproom tote demand. Wanting to minimize their carbon footprint, Beer to Bags partnered with Mountain Mindful as their collection site in West Virginia. From there, bags can be shipped to the manufacturing facility. This helped with the company’s environmental impact by averting bags from having to be shipped all over the place. By building a supply chain, Neville has big plans for the future of Beer to Bags.
I asked Neville where she wanted to see Beer to Bags in the next five to ten years. The great thing is, that she has a real vision to continue the sustainability conversation in brewing. Neville would like to see Beer to Bags grow out central warehouses to work with breweries nationally.
But for now, there are plenty of exciting things coming down the pipeline. Along with the newly screen-printed bags (featured in this post), Beer to Bags has plans for a cooler, a lunch bag, and a different variation of tote bag. Be on the lookout for the Beer to Bags ecommerce shop and be sure to check them out on Instagram (@beertobags). I personally hope it is up in time for Christmas!
These Totes are TOTEally Awesome
Wonderful mission and backstory aside, I love these tote bags! The grain bag material will keep your groceries dry if you are caught in an afternoon storm. The tote designs and straps are hefty to say the least! To give you some insight, I carried two 12 packs of cans in the larger tote. Yes, I take my product testing very seriously!
In true Beer to Bags spirit, let’s "Pour one out for the planet!"
Anytime I meet a fellow brew buff, I have to find out their favorite beers. In my humble opinion, Neville has great insight into more than just businesses. She really enjoys Pilsners, Kolsch style brews, and Saisons.
When I asked Neville about her favorite local beers, she said the Kolsch from White Street Brewing or the Pilsner from Ponysaurus Brewing were generally her go-to. These are now on my list to try.
As we were talking about North Carolina brewed beers in general, Neville mentioned Mother Earth’s Endless River and New Belgium Fat Tire (founded in Colorado and now brewing in Asheville, NC), both of which I can get down on.
For this post I chose one of Neville’s favorite styles (Pilsner) and one of mine (Wheat).
Paycheck Pilsner
During one of our first conversations, Neville mentioned that they were starting to screen print for breweries including Fullsteam. Fullsteam holds a special place in my heart and on my palate as I have yet to try a beer from them that I do not like. This led us to talk about Paycheck Pilsner from Fullsteam. Crisp and refreshing, Paycheck is easy, light drinking on a hot summer’s day.
Plunge Pool Peach Wheat
While I haven’t been to their brewery (yet) or had many of their beers, I have liked everything I have tried from Blowing Rock Brewing. Being from the mountains of North Carolina I really appreciate this brewery’s logo and moto “Go to the Mountains.” This beer is the embodiment of my youth, bright, sweet, and fun! The name itself conjured memories of climbing up rocks in the Cullasaja Gorge and plunging into the waters below. I still cannot believe I did that over and over and got away with just a few scraped knees. The peaches were an excellent touch to this brew and reminded of summers making cobblers from fresh peaches. Believe it or not this photo inspired me to make a peach-blueberry cobbler. It helped that I still had these juicy white peaches as a fresh ingredient.
That reminds me that these totes are prefect for packing a summer picnic! I hope you can grab one of these totes, one of these brews, and some fresh summer fruit to pack your own!
Cheers!
