Czech brewery makes beer from air moisture

It was meant to bring attention to the need to save precious water resources

Radegast, a brewery which produces the most popular beers in the Moravian region of Czechia, has managed to produce beer out of thin air. Called Radegast Futur, the batch was brewed in a limited edition mostly with the aim of raising awareness about increasing water scarcity in the Central European country.

Only 200 litres of the lager were made available through special events, and reportedly it is characterized by its heightened bitter profile.

The creation of the sustainable beverage was made possible thanks to an innovative water-harvesting technology developed by the Czech company Karbox.

The original aim of the tech device, called EWA (Emergency Water from Air) is to extract moisture from the air to provide drinking water in arid regions of the world – up to 30 litres a day. In more temperate environments, however, the machine can extract even more moisture – as high as 50 to 70 litres a day.

The Radegast Brewery has spotted an environmentally responsible opportunity to do business. It’s seen as a sure way to conserve water, a resource that is only slated to become more and more valuable in the future due to the warming of the European climate.

Water-friendly beer

While the worldwide average hovers around 4.5 litres of water to produce a litre of beer, Czech breweries generally maintain around 3.5 litres, meaning that they are already ahead of the pack in terms of a sustainable business model.

Radegast, which is based in the town of Nošovice (in the far east of Czechia), has performed even better. It boasts one of the lowest water consumption rates per hectoliter of beer produced globally – with 2.29 litres of water used to brew a litre of suds.