Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, two Australian breweries are promoting green beers. Unlike that “Erin Go Blagh!” stuff the pubs pour every March 17th, these eco-friendly ales from Fosters’ Cascade Green and Lion Nathan may pour brown but they’re brewed green, as The Sydney Morning Herald reports:

Cascade Green promises to offset all the greenhouse gas emissions associated with its production throughout the product’s life cycle, from picking the hops to delivering to hotels and the brand’s advertising.

Lion Nathan touts its Barefoot Radler beer as Australia’s first carbon neutral brew on its website:

Barefoot Radler is our most environmentally friendly product yet, brewed by us to tread softly on the planet. Any greenhouse gas emissions we couldn’t get rid of have been completely offset: Barefoot Radler is the first beer product in Australia to be certified carbon neutral by the Department of Climate Change as part of the government’s Greenhouse Friendly program.

Scottish scientists, meanwhile, are pioneering the use of residues from whiskey distilleries in the treatment of polluted soil and water. A by-product of whiskey production which the University won’t identify for proprietary reasons has proven remarkably effective at removing contaminants, according to the London Daily Telegraph:

Scientists at Aberdeen University have created DRAM - Device for the Remediation and Attenuation of Multiple pollutants - which they claim could revolutionize the cleaning up of old and contaminated industrial sites.

They claim the secret process can remove different types of pollutants including chlorines, heavy metals and pesticides at the same time and is far quicker and more cost effective than current clean up techniques”

“Trials have been so successful that the university research team is considering setting up a company to exploit its commercial potential.

Dr Graeme Paton, a leading soil toxicologist who helped pioneer the project, told the Telegraph:

“Currently we are using the by-product of Scotland’s most famous export but our technology can utilize other by-products from the food and beverage industry.

The clean up of contaminated groundwater is an absolutely massive global market. The technology that we have developed is environmentally friendly, sustainable and has the potential to put Scotland at the forefront for remediation technologies.”

Learn more about the issues of contaminated soil and water at toxicsites.org.