Saving water and flavor is what’s on tap at a few earth-minded breweries. Hop on this:
Ever been told that if you want to save water, you should drink ale instead? Unfortunately, there’s not much truth to the joke—a lot of water goes into making beer.
“It can vary from about three liters to six liters of water per liter of finished product produced,” says Tod Christenson, director of the Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable.
He says water is used during the brewing process, as well as for cleaning and cooling.
But there’s change brewing! Christenson says that by fixing leaks, recycling water used for cooling, and optimizing their cleaning methods, beer-makers in the Environmental Roundtable have increased their efficiency by 15 percent in three years.
And that’s savings worth toasting over.
Get Schooled:
- Three cheers for MillerCoors sustainability, in this article from The Chicago Tribune
- In this drought, California breweries are frothing to save water for their draughts, from California Craft Brewers Association
- Sip on the details about how breweries are decreasing beer’s water footprint from The Guardian
The fine print:
- This segment was produced in partnership with Cornell’s Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future