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German Brewers Warn Fracking Could Hurt Beer

Taco Cowboy writes "Those of you who like free beer, watch out! The practice of fracking for shale gas may ruin the beer you drink. Under the 'Reinheitsgebot,' or German purity law, brewers have to produce beer using only malt, hops, yeast and water. 'The water has to be pure and more than half [of] Germany's brewers have their own wells which are situated outside areas that could be protected under the government's current planned legislation on fracking,' said a Brauer-Bund spokesman. The Brauer-Bund beer association is worried that fracking for shale gas, which involves pumping water and chemicals at high pressure into the ground, could pollute water used for brewing and break a 500-year-old industry rule on water purity."

6 of 325 comments (clear)

  1. Ruining water to get gas and oil by aliquis · · Score: 5, Funny

    "it sounded like such a good idea!" ..

  2. Re:Uebersetzungsfehler? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Problem solved then! They can simply amend it again to include the cocktail of chemicals from the fracking.

  3. Re:Beer saved the World! by c0lo · · Score: 4, Funny

    It was pretty watery and had just enough alcohol to kill much of the bacteria. ... You probably wouldn't touch the stuff.

    I still can't believe Budweiser as that old.

    --
    Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
  4. Re:Uebersetzungsfehler? by ebno-10db · · Score: 4, Funny

    Problem solved then! They can simply amend it again to include the cocktail of chemicals from the fracking.

    Benzene adds a delightful "bite" to an otherwise dull lager.

  5. Re:Energy a bit more important than Beer by ChunderDownunder · · Score: 4, Funny
    I get my science from Matt Damon

    Are you saying he's another Hollywood tree-hugger distorting facts in order to sell movie tickets?

  6. They're worried about the beer? by johnny+cashed · · Score: 4, Funny

    What about the water? I know it is the national drink in Germany, but they do drink water too, correct?