Victory for a cause

As Brewticular and Brew Sirdar sipped on their cold brews, a conversation arose that would lead to a path that some have questioned, but few have truly explored….  What is the most important ingredient in brewing?

When most do their reviews of a brew, they talk about the IBU, SRM, hop variety, or malt, or yeast used when brewing.  Clearly these are the ingredients that slam your palate like a large green fist from the Green Lantern, but while these are all essential ingredients used to make a quality craft brew, if you were to add them all into a dry kettle, you would come up with some sort of incredible tasting (sarcasm) hop cake.  We know you are enticed by this thought, but let’s divulge into the missing and largest (proportionately) piece of the brew puzzle, water.

We will not being going into the science of your local water treatment plant at this time (I know you are disappointed), but it must be noted that many breweries have taken H2O seriously.  Coors gets their water straight from the Rocky Mountains, The Brew Sherpa gets his water from Brewticular’s bathtub, and Victory Brewing has chosen to use water from the East Branch of the Brandywine Creek to make its Headwaters Pale Ale.

The name Headwaters Pale Ale pays homage to the water that comes from the East Branch of the Brandywine Creek, which begins its adventure a mere 14 miles from the brewery.  As a result of the importance of water and the location of the brewery, Victory Brewing began to award its Headwaters Grant to help water preservation, the first winner being The Guardians of the Brandywine.

So how can you help?  The simple answer is… DRINK BEER.  That’s right! You can drink beer and help solve a problem.  For every sale of Headwaters Pale Ale, Victory Brewing contributes a portion to help the cause.  For more information about the journey Victory Brewing has taken to craft Headwaters Pale Ale and the Headwaters Grant, visit their blog.