| Beer and the Drought by Jack Hondell Hello Bob - thought I'd update your readers on what's happening here in California with our prolonged drought and how it's impacting the breweries here. One case in particular motivated me to write you since you and your readers might not have heard that the water board in Fallbrook, a smaller town in Southern California has imposed restrictions on Fallbrook Brewing Co., just as the tiny brewer doubled capacity to meet demand for its craft beers. To cut monthly water use by about 10 percent, owner Chuck McLaughlin bought an extra 310- tank to catch water used in the brewing process to reuse it for cleaning equipment. His new brewhouse includes a chiller that uses two-thirds less water than his old one. His problem is that as a small business, there's no extra money to pay potentially thousands in fines if he exceeds the limit. As you know Bob, California has more craft breweries than any other state and we're proud of it. More than 570 are in operation and another 240 are slated to open. That a good thing even if you don't drink beer because craft breweries contributed $6.5 billion to the state economy last year alone, producing 3.5 million barrels. I did some research and found that a typical craft brewery uses up to 7 gallons of water to make 1 gallon of beer. Some in California have decreased that ratio to less than 5-to-1, but they are still being asked to cut back to meet the state mandate, which aims for California's overall urban water use to go down by 25 percent compared to 2013. No other state in the drought-plagued West has taken such action. Breweries are digging wells, installing wastewater treatment plants and seeking exemptions from local water boards that control water use and can impose fines. Some are shelving planned expansions. If Mother Nature doesn't bring significant showers and snowstorms this fall and winter, some breweries may be forced to leave the state. Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. and other established California breweries, such as Stone Brewing Co., recently opened plants on the East Coast. But they say the motive was not the drought but to cut transportation costs to those markets. I'm not sure about that now. Officials in the city of Chico told Sierra Nevada this spring to drop its water use by 32 percent. The nation's largest private craft brewery already had cut its usage by 25 percent and said further cuts would hurt production. The local water board agreed to exempt the water it uses to produce beer and asked Sierra Nevada to work toward reducing water used for its restaurant and landscaping by 42 percent. Bear Republic Brewing Co. has taken some of the most drastic measures. The company last year pulled out of 15 U.S. markets and four countries after the Northern California town of Cloverdale informed the brewery it did not have enough water to sustain it. But instead of moving, Bear Republic spent $466,000 to dig two wells for the town of 9,000 residents. It spent an additional $4 million on its own water treatment system, which uses electrically active microbes to purify wastewater, allowing the brewery to recycle up to 25 percent of the water it uses for equipment cleaning. It's a tough situation for sure but as you see breweries are doing their best to conserve. As a beer lover I'm proud of that. To be honest, I don't know the answer to it other than to hope the rains come and things return to normal quickly. ---------- Thanks Jack for alerting us to efforts of the breweries to work through the drought. The story doesn't get enough coverage here on the East Coast for sure. Hopefully things will improve and soon! I'd like to invite everyone to send me their own columns about anything related to beer/drinking/booze just as Kerri did. I select the best and publish them here. So join in and get writing. Cheers! Bob |
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