We've got good news and bad news…
• The Chicago Sun Times reports on the continued growth of the US craft brewing segment, which "captured 7.8 percent of the U.S. beer market last year, up from a 6.5 percent market share in 2012," according to the Brewers Association.
"Craft breweries made 15.6 million barrels of beer last year, 18 percent more than in 2012, according to preliminary annual figures from the association. The retail value increased 20 percent to $14.3 billion."
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that since beer is generally about 95 percent water and is dependent on water not just taste but also because "it irrigates the fields that produce beer's next most critical ingredient - barley," brewers are concerned that "the golden age of cheap, seemingly limitless supplies of fresh water is at an end, even in the world's most developed nations."
According to the story, "All told, it takes 300 barrels of water on average to produce a single barrel of beer, with only three or four of those barrels added at a modern, efficient brewery," and so manufacturers are getting ambitious and aggressive with their water conservation efforts."
You can read more about them here.
• The Chicago Sun Times reports on the continued growth of the US craft brewing segment, which "captured 7.8 percent of the U.S. beer market last year, up from a 6.5 percent market share in 2012," according to the Brewers Association.
"Craft breweries made 15.6 million barrels of beer last year, 18 percent more than in 2012, according to preliminary annual figures from the association. The retail value increased 20 percent to $14.3 billion."
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that since beer is generally about 95 percent water and is dependent on water not just taste but also because "it irrigates the fields that produce beer's next most critical ingredient - barley," brewers are concerned that "the golden age of cheap, seemingly limitless supplies of fresh water is at an end, even in the world's most developed nations."
According to the story, "All told, it takes 300 barrels of water on average to produce a single barrel of beer, with only three or four of those barrels added at a modern, efficient brewery," and so manufacturers are getting ambitious and aggressive with their water conservation efforts."
You can read more about them here.
- KC's View:
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Yikes.
So the good news is that beer is getting better than ever, with good beer becoming ever more popular.
And the bad news is that lack of water could ruin the whole trend.
Time to start hoarding, methinks.
