While the drought in California (or any drought, for that matter) is concerning, we never thought about the effect it could have on our beer. But MillerCoors did. Their Irwindale brewery is located in the San Gabriel Valley in SoCal—directly in the middle of drought territory. Even before the current water shortage, MillerCoors’ water to beer ration was just over three barrels of water for every barrel of beer, well below the industry average of six to eight barrels of water.
With no sign of the drought ending, MillerCoors is making the effort to cut back even further on their water usage across all breweries. In the past five years, they’ve reduced their water use by 26%. These cutbacks not only save water and consider the financial impact, but they ensure that MillerCoors can keep producing the 24+ labels of beer they make, including Miller, Coors, Blue Moon, Peroni, and Leinenkugel. We’ll drink to that!