Finally, the suits are noticing that beer is made of water and water is, well, important as they join the tree huggers to make water the next big thing in eco-trendy marketing:
Water footprinting is being increasingly used to understand the total amount of water that supports our lifestyles -- the water used to create the clothes we wear, the food we eat and the beverages we drink. At this year's Stockholm Water Week, SABMiller and WWF, two members of the Water Footprint Network, will publish a report which explains the water footprint of the whole value chain for SABMiller's beers in South Africa and the Czech Republic.
This is good if only to point out that there is a heck of a lot more water used in the process of making beer than ends up in your glass and, as the planet's water resources are both finite and eternal, worth considering. You did know about that eternal bit, right? The water in your glass was once dinosaur pee. Your final moment with the brew is just one in a long chain of similar moments that included the brontosaurus.
Comments
Chris - August 19, 2009 7:20 AM
I am a homebrewer and I use a lot of water to make beer. Imagine how much the big boys use to make a batch of beer!!! Lucky for me, I live where there is so much water ( just outside Peterborough ) that it will never be an issue. Other parts of the world are not so lucky, they are dry.
Phil - August 19, 2009 9:17 AM
It's said that breweries use 3-4x's the amount beer they produce in water... Water reclamation and energy use is high priority. New Belgium seem to be good at it.
Sid - August 19, 2009 1:06 PM
"Your final moment with the brew is just one in a long chain of similar moments that included the brontosaurus. "
I hold firm that my beer had nothing to do with a dinosaur that never existed....
http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:0X5Z5dtQwfIJ:wiki.answers.com/Q/The_brontosaurus_is_no_longer_a_real_dinosaur_but...._why+brontosaurus+not+a+dinosaur&cd=7&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ca
Alan - August 19, 2009 1:11 PM
HAH! I knew that would be brought up. If there were bronotsauruseses on the Flintstones that is good enough for me/
Tim - August 20, 2009 1:01 AM
According to Long Trail Brewing's website (http://www.ecobrew.net/ WARNING: excessive Flash) the industry standard is 6:1 ratio of water used per beer. They claim a 2:1 ratio, which if true, is mightily impressive.
Claudius - January 20, 2012 10:26 PM
It's amazing how the same water can be used to make very different brews... Coors and New Belgium both use water from similar sources, yet they're light years apart in quality
Amanda - January 21, 2012 10:43 AM
"Coors and New Belgium both use water from similar sources, yet they're light years apart in quality"
Once again someone confuses quality with flavour.