Maine brewery and aquaculture firm ranked among U.S. ‘brands that matter’

File photo / Tim Greenway Atlantic Sea Farms, based in Biddeford, is led by 2020 Mainebiz Next List honoree Briana Warner.

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By Renee Cordes

Alongside clothing label Abercrombie & Fitch and Aflac insurance, two Maine companies — Allagash Brewing Co. and Atlantic Sea Farms — made Fast Company's 2022 list of 144 "brands that matter."

Now in its second year, the list has grown from 95 brands last year recognized by the monthly business magazine. The publication noted that all of this year's honorees "clearly generated enthusiasm among their customers, offering a model of what other brands should be aiming for, and what a brand, at its best, can achieve."

Allagash, led by founder and craft-brewing pioneer Rob Tod, was ranked Maine's largest brewer in the 2022 Mainebiz Book of Lists based on annual production in barrels. The Portland-based brewer plans to build a new tasting room in Scarborough, at the Downs mixed-use development.

Atlantic Sea Farms, an aquaculture firm led by president and CEO Briana Warner and based in Biddeford, specializes in products made from fresh seaweed and kelp, from sea-veggie burgers to cranberry kelp cubes, sold online and in hundreds of stores.

Warner, who joined the company then known as Ocean Approved in 2018, was honored on the 2020 Mainebiz Next list for her contributions to Maine's economy.

Besides being listed among 142 other "brands that matter," Allagash and Atlantic Sea Farms were also among 18 brands from that list deemed to be community-minded, "for the unique ways they are taking their consumers, their immediate communities and the health of the planet into account."

Fast Company notes that Allagash supports Maine's grain farmers, a centerpiece of its strategy, making good last December on its 2016 pledge to use 1 million pounds of Maine-grown grain per year to make its beer.

"Beyond helping local farmers plan their resources, it helps the B Corporation brewery reduce the carbon emissions from shipping its grain," Fast Company said. "Allagash has also built itself into a recycling resource for community members and businesses, encouraging beer-related recycling drop-offs from customers and building a 20-member recycling co-op with local companies that has recycled 120 tons of materials since 2020."

Allagash became a registered B Corp in 2019, a designation for businesses meeting high standards of verified performance, accountability and transparency in areas ranging from employee benefits to supply chain practices.

In its write-up on Atlantic Sea Farms, Fast Company notes that the aquaculture firm grew 87% of the domesticated seaweed consumed by Americans in 2021.

"The company did so by working with 27 farms while also helping 14 more launch kelp farming businesses," Fast Company writes.

Fast Company also mentions the company's new facility that houses the Western Hemisphere's largest kelp nursery, and the fact that the company managed to capture carbon simply by growing kelp.

With its 2021 harvest, Atlantic Sea Farms pulled an estimated 90,000 pounds of carbon — the emissions equivalent to burning 10.1 million gallons of gas — and 7,250 pounds of nitrogen from local waters, the magazine said.