We Believe in Being Energy Efficient
The network of buildings that house our Pub, brewery, and banquet hall are built with one of the most energy-efficient wall systems on the planet. Called “Solarcrete”, the walls are made of concrete with an insulated core. The combination of high R-value and thermal mass keep the building warm in winter, cool in summer, and result in a much smaller use of both natural gas and electricity throughout the year. The roofing system is constructed of SIPs-structural insulated panels. They complement the walls in their ability to retain warmth in the cold season, and keep heat out in the warm months.
In addition to having a very energy-efficient building structure, we heat and cool 50% of the building space with geothermal technology. Using a network of heat pumps and a circulating loop sunk to the bottom of the quarry, we are able to both heat and cool the building with the earth’s stable temperature throughout the year. In essence, heat is removed from the building in the warm months and transferred to the lake. The inverse occurs in the cold season, when heat from the lake helps warm the building. Keeping our almost 30,000 square feet of restaurant and brewery space at the right temperature costs a fraction of normal HVAC systems, and reduces our “carbon footprint” greatly through lower use of fossil fuels.
We also took advantage of the earth’s natural heating and cooling ability with a very simple step-a large portion of our brewing space is located below ground. We maintain a stable temperature of 68 degrees throughout the year, which greatly reduces the amount of energy required to keep our beer cold. The intense temperature swings we experience in the Midwest are not felt at all in our “beer bunker”, very similar to the old German breweries that were built into the sides of the mountains and hills long before the invention of modern refrigeration.