Craft breweries saving water in a thirsty state
Raise a glass and say cheers, because it’s National Beer Day. But local breweries, like many of us, remain concerned about the drought.
This is the 82nd year of celebrating National Beer Day, marking the end of prohibition in America. Brewing beer went through a lot of changes since 1933.
“I think the flavor profiles and some of the ingredients are definitely, I guess you could say, are better, much more flavorful than they were,” said Derek LLoyd the director of marketing for La Quinta Brewing Co.
The La Quinta Brewing Co. opened in November of 2013, helping to meet the climbing demand for craft beer.
“Its been great, overall a lot of the local people really seem to embrace the breweries and embrace the industry so it’s been fantastic,” said Lloyd.
It’s not just beer drinkers who are thirsty. The entire state of California is in a record drought, and making beer uses a lot of water.
“There is no way around it, there is only so much water, and you can’t have a brewery opening up every week in California and not have that affect the water table,” said Chris Anderson, brew master and CEO of Coachella Valley Brewing Co.
The process of brewing beer uses a lot of water, but the majority of the ingredients for beer come from places that are not impacted by the drought.
“Some of the ingredients we get from the Pacific Northwest aren’t facing the same drought we are here in California, so there is a challenge with some of our beers, but for the most part now it hasn’t really affected us yet,” said Lloyd.
The Coachella Valley Brewing Co. in Thousand Palms uses new technology to cut back on water usage.
“We are one of 14 breweries on the planet that operates a H.E.B System, and it uses 60 percent less water than a conventional brew house,” said Anderson.
The La Qunita Brewing Co. also brews using methods that conserve water.
“We recapture the cooling water we use from our heat exchanger and we capture it into our hot liquor tanks and we can reuse it for brewing, that’s probably the biggest thing we do so it doesn’t go down the drain,” said Ryan Pearson, brew master for La Quinta Brewing Co.
