Almanac Beer Co. Carbonates New Brew With Air-Captured CO2 in World First

Aircapture and Almanac Beer Co. launched Flow – Clean Air Edition (Flow – CAE), the world's first beer carbonated using CO2 captured from the atmosphere through onsite Direct Air Capture. The pale ale debuted on the production floor of a craft brewery in Alameda, California, and it signals something bigger than a single limited release: a structural fix to one of craft brewing's most persistent supply headaches.

Aircapture's modular DAC unit, installed at Almanac's Alameda brewery, pulls carbon dioxide from ambient air and delivers beverage-grade liquid CO2 at 99.999% purity, significantly exceeding industry standard specifications, directly into the brewing process. While large-scale DAC projects require years of construction and hundreds of millions in capital, Aircapture's modular system, integrated with Almanac's existing brewing equipment, was operational in weeks.

The timing of this launch isn't arbitrary. In 2022, a nationwide carbon dioxide shortage disrupted operations and raised costs for food and beverage manufacturers, hitting breweries especially hard. The cause was structural: most CO2 comes from fossil-fuel-linked industrial processes such as ammonia or ethanol production. When those industries slow down or sequester supply, CO2 can vanish overnight. Aircapture's DAC system pulls CO2 directly from ambient air and purifies it to beverage-grade specifications onsite, allowing manufacturers like Almanac to generate their own CO2 supply independent of the volatile markets and industrial cycles that have long made CO2 a vulnerability rather than a reliable output.

The economics are real too. Liquid carbon dioxide purchased through Aircapture is 15 to 20 percent cheaper than conventional commercial products, savings that add up to tens of thousands of dollars over the year. Almanac is currently making 20 percent of its beer with on-site air capture, and CEO Damian Fagan said he expected to be at 100 percent within the year.

Fagan framed the collaboration in explicitly local terms. "Brewing is both science and craft," he said. "By integrating direct air capture into our production floor, we're rethinking one of our essential ingredients and contributing to carbon-removal efforts. Instead of relying on distant industrial supply, we're sourcing CO₂ from the air right here in Alameda. It's local, circular, and a glimpse of what the future will look like."

Matt Atwood, CEO and founder of Aircapture, put it bluntly: "Until now, CO2 has been a volatile byproduct of fuel and chemical production. With Flow – Clean Air Edition, we're making high-purity CO2 from the air right where it's needed, and delivering it at a cost that works for business owners. This is the beginning of a supply chain transition for a critical commodity worth tens of billions of dollars globally."

The beer debuted during a public celebration at Almanac's Alameda brewery on Saturday, March 21, where guests toured the operating DAC system and saw how atmospheric CO2 flows into the brewing process. Flow – Clean Air Edition is now available at Almanac Beer Co.'s Alameda brewery and can be found in over 800 accounts statewide, including Safeway, Whole Foods, Total Wine, and BevMo.

A portion of proceeds from Flow – CAE will be donated to Carbon180, a nonprofit focused on advancing carbon removal policy in the U.S. An independent life cycle assessment conducted for a U.S. Department of Energy project found that the system's carbon footprint is less than 10 percent of what it captures, according to Atwood.

Matthew Realff, a chemical engineer at the Georgia Institute of Technology not involved with the brewery, noted that DAC devices like Aircapture's could be "extremely useful for the climate" if they help make carbon capture cheaper and more widely available. For now, the more immediate proof of concept is simpler: a California pale ale carbonated by nothing more than the air outside the brewery door.