Water is added back in before consumption
Colorado craft beer maker New Belgium Brewing made a point by releasing a "Specialty beer" brewed from smoke-tainted water, weedy dandelions and other ingredients one might find in an overheated dystopian future.
As this ancient and massive industry scrambles to get greener fast, one possibility gaining ground is reducing the drink's carbon footprint by temporarily removing much of its water-which makes up 90 to 95 percent of most beers.
So beer makers are exploring creative new packaging technologies to reduce shipping needs.
A Colorado-based company called Sustainable Beverage Technologies has developed BrewVo, a machine that produces a version of beer containing far less water than usual.
The alcohol is mixed back into the concentrate, and the beer is rehydrated and carbonated before bottling or serving.
In the Revos machine, the high-pressure, low-temperature process removes water from beer while leaving alcohol, flavors and aromas in the remaining concentrate.
Once a beer concentrate reaches its destination, it requires another specially designed machine to prepare it for consumption.
Though the idea of beer concentrates might sound startling to connoisseurs, a similar process has long been used to transport soda in syrup form.
To get started on this, nonalcoholic beer brewed with BrewVo technology was entered into the 2019 Best of Craft Beer Awards competition.
According to Caren McNamara, founder of Conscious Container, packaging, which contributes to more than a third of beer's emissions, "Is the last mile when it comes to sustainability." Beer concentrators should be able to at least help address part of that problem.