Along with hops, malt, and yeast, lots of water is used in the art of brewing good beer, according to Dave Roder of the Waterworks Brewery. His lively and educational talk presented to members of Rye’s Sustainable Living Forum on Tuesday June 18 was accompanied by samples of his brews followed by an informative topical quiz led by SLF co-founder, Graham Ellis.
We learned that only 3% of the world’s water is fresh water and only 1% is available for human use. Obviously, we need to value and optimise our usage, especially when we discovered also a fifth of water running through pipes in the UK is leaked and wasted. Dave has innovated methods at his brewery to minimise his water use which, along with other sustainable practises, seeks to make his business as green as possible.
The essence of sustainable living is reducing the need to exploit new resources and Dave has done this admirably through his canny ability to source secondhand equipment for brewing, as well as for customer seating and for renovating his building.
In the comfort of his taproom, our members enjoyed learning about how a brewery works, as well as fun facts like the most commonly littered item in the world are cigarettes; aluminium and glass can be recycled indefinitely; and producing one hamburger takes the same amount of water as 60 average showers.
If it ever comes down to a choice between hamburgers and showers, I know which I would choose.
How about you?
Thanks to brewers like Dave, however, we will hopefully not have to choose between showers or beer.
