Just two days ago I wrote about the newly powered-up solar installation at New Belgium Brewing Co. in Fort Collins, a 200 kw array that will offset about thirteen percent of the facility’s peak demand and make Fat Tire ale lovers everywhere a bit smug about their eco-friendly drinking habits. Then today, word came of another Colorado solar installation at a brewery.

Odell Brewing Company, like New Belgium located near Denver in Fort Collins, is now proud owner of a 385 solar panel system. The 77 kw array will offset approximately 39 percent of this microbrewer’s demand. The installation covers 11,000 square feet of rooftop.  And if owner Doug Odell could have fit more solar panels up there? He would have. Odell’s been making beer in this location since 1989, and has always maintained a strong sense of social responsibility. He received Colorado’s  Outstanding Small Business Philanthropy award in 2004, for instance, runs a charity of the month program at the brewery, and sees his solar installation as “an opportunity for public awareness about renewable energy.”

Way to go, beer: you’re making the Colorado solar industry proud.