FT: German brewers fear fracking will spoil their beer
When the engineer opens a spigot, a rivulet of crystal clear mountain water spills out of the pipeline and into his plastic cup. He takes a sip and smiles: “That’s almost as good as a beer.”
The family that owns brewers Veltins relocated their business to a mountainside in 1854 for access to the purest water. It gives their brand of Pils the soft taste and cloudless look prized by German drinkers, the company says.
But the famous purity of beers such as these is under threat.
The German government is drawing up plans that would permit hydraulic fracturing, overturning an effective ban on the practice.
The move follows lobbying by the energy industry and German manufacturers, which are keen to boost competitiveness with the US and reduce energy dependence on Russia by tapping the country’s estimated 2.3tn cubic metres shale gas reserves.