Many craft beer geeks can wax philosophical about different
malts, yeast strains and hop varietals, but it’s easy to forget
about beer’s fourth ingredient, water. Beer is around 90 percent
water, and many brewers throughout the world attribute much of
their beer’s flavor to the water with which they brew. Not only
is water a necessary ingredient in brewing beer, but hundreds of
gallons of water are also used to sanitize brewing equipment.
When all’s said and done, it can take anywhere from 8-24 gallons
of water to produce a single pint of beer. Given this, it’s no
surprise that the following breweries are doing their part to
preserve and conserve water where they can. If you bought a
12-pack of Sierra Nevada’s Pale Ale or seasonal beers between
August 1 and last Friday, you might have helped save a waterway
without knowing it, thanks to Sierra Nevada’s Wild Rivers
program. A portion of the proceeds from those beers will be
donated by Sierra Nevada to the Western Rivers Conservancy and
River Network. Even thou