The importance of water cannot be understated, not just for beer but for life. As draught conditions persist in certain areas of the country and polluted supplies are becoming more common in others, brewers are taking the necessary steps now to be thinking about clean water.
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Breweries often gain headlines when they partner on local initiatives to reclaim wastewater to use in beer. Notably in Arizona, several years ago the AZ Pure Water Brew Challenge brought a fully functional mobile wastewater facility to breweries around the state to let them use purified water in beer recipes.
“The rapidly advancing craft beer purveyors proved not only to be excellent spokespersons for the project, but savvy water stewards in their own right,” read an executive report after the conclusion of the challenge. “Inclusion of the brewers, and the crafting of beer made from recycled water may seem whimsical at first, but it overwhelmingly helped to peak people’s interest in the project and provided a tremendous opportunity to reach a much larger audience while continually educating people about water quality and water issues while simultaneously stressing the fact that all water is recycled.”
Wren House Brewing continues to regularly brew a beer with purified, once-used, water. It’s presence on tap in the brewery’s busy location helps routinely spark new conversations and normalize consuming cleaned water.
With the southwest suffering from terrible drought conditions science and society need to work towards sustainable solutions.
Salmon Safe is an initiative in the Pacific Northwest that is working with farms to make sure that growing conditions are favorable to protecting waterways and the salmon that call the waters home.
Salmon-safe hops have been grown for years now and there are a large number of breweries that use those hops in their beers and support the farms that follow the practices.
The group has recently added malt to the list of products:
“With respect to malt, Salmon-Safe is partnering with Walla Walla, Washington, based Mainstem Malt to help transition a growing number of environmentally innovative grain growers in the interior Columbia Basin to certified barley malt. We’re also pleased to announce new partnerships with Skagit Valley Malting and Coldstream Malt to further transition western Washington and inland Northwest grain growers to certified malt.”
The attention to clean water and technology also extends into wastewater produced by breweries.
The Alchemist in Stowe, Vermont invested in water treatment equipment when it constructed its new brewery several years ago. Brewery co-owner John Kimmich said at the time when giving a tour of the odiferous room that going forward nearly every brewery in America, regardless of size will have to be thinking about how it returns water its used back into the municipal waste stream.