Beyond comprising most of what’s in the beer glass, water’s unique chemistry has tremendous effects on the brewing process and the flavor of the resulting beverage. Historical centers of brewing culture such as Dublin, Munich, and Pilsen grew to prominence largely because of the local water sources that brewers learned to harness even before they learned the chemistry behind the dry stout, the dunkel, and the Pilsner.
Modern brewers know all about residual alkalinity, temporary hardness, and how to craft a water profile to support the beer they imagine, but water chemistry rarely inspires the same passionate discussions that you hear about hops varieties, yeast strains, or even barley cultivars. It’s understandable; water chemistry can be, if you’ll pardon the pun, kind of dry. But one brewer in water-conscious Southern California is putting his years of professional experience with water into play at his new brewery, and Green Cheek Beer Company’s Evan Price is just as happy to geek out about chloride-to-sulfate ratios and gypsum’s place in New England–style IPAs as he is about malt bills or dry-hopping techniques.
“Water chemistry is complicated,” Price says. He struggled with the vagaries of Southern California’s municipal water and fine-tuning water profiles for years. “I’m thankful for those troubles,” he says. “It was a blessing in disguise.”