A look at what may be the most sustainable brewery in the Wilmington area

Since opening in 2018, Wilmington’s Mad Mole Brewing has grown and expanded its original mission at 6309 Boathouse Road near Bradley Creek.

“We are one of the most sustainable breweries in town,” said Bryon McSweeney, general manager. “We are just a small brewery off the beaten path that is trying to make it in a sea of breweries.”

The brewery was built with solar panels and launched with the “Brewed by the Sun” motto. Since then, they’ve added to their environmental efforts and increased their production by about 200%, McSweeney said.

“You can find us at many of the grocery stores and bottle shops in the area,” he said.

Solar-powered

The brewery currently has 24 solar panels and was named America’s Favorite Solar Craft Microbrewery by Solar United Neighbors in 2019. While it doesn’t generate enough power to cover all of the needs at the brewery and taproom, the panels do produce enough to accommodate the brewing process.

“It definitely covers all of our brew days,” McSweeney said.

Environmental mission

Beginning in May 2022, Mad Mole started working with Environmental Science majors from the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Each semester, an intern works on a project to help the brewery lessen its impact on the local environment – from composting brewing byproducts to stormwater management. One implemented with the help of Carmen Keene was a recycling program for #5 plastic bags.

“That it how we get our malt and they are really hard to recycle,” McSweeney said.

They are now collected and dropped off at UNCW’s recycling program. In addition to Mad Mole, most other local breweries are participating, he said.

Brewing partnerships

Mad Mole also has a tradition of creating special beers for fellow businesses. It started with CheeseSmith. The brewery made a special in-house beer when they opened their storefront. They also make a beer for Copper Penny, Benny’s Bigtime Pizzeria and Rebellion NC.

"We have a very close relationship with our friends over Live Nation and have made house beers for Live Oak and Greenfield Lake Amphitheater,” he said.

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Allison Ballard is the food and dining reporter at the StarNews. You can reach her at aballard@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Mad Mole Brewing in Wilmington, NC, focused on sustainability