The "Grain d'Orge" brasserie and INTEWA brew an exclusive brain from rainwater

Hops, malt, yeast and last but not least water - beer is on everyone's lips in the 500th year of the Purity Law. A growing craft beer movement is enthusiastically brewing beers with a wide range of flavors and unmistakable aromas. Hops, malt and yeast are brought together in a creative way to develop something new. The fourth factor for a good beer is water. Breweries usually have their own, strictly guarded water sources to brew their distinctive beer.

But the idea of brewing with rainwater has to be thought of first. It was born when Oliver Ringelstein, Managing Director of INTEWA, and his US-American sales partner Bob Drew came across his hobby "Craft Beer": INTEWA develops and markets technologies for water reuse. The AQUALOOP ultrafiltration technology, which turns rainwater into drinking water, has been successful for several years. Now the idea was obvious - after all, Drew had already successfully brewed with rainwater. Ringelstein was fascinated by the idea.

He went in search of a brewery to implement the idea. He found what he was looking for in the Grain D'Orge microbrewery in Homburg. Master brewer Benoît Johnen was quickly convinced because the Aqualoop technology provides him with rainwater that meets the very highest brewing standards: Rainwater is free of minerals due to condensation and is naturally purified.

The INTEWA technology reliably removes contamination from collection surfaces and makes the water hygienically perfect. The purified rainwater contains no micropollutants such as residues of medicines or hormones - and of course no pesticides such as glyphosate, almost a unique selling point! "A water source for beer production cannot be any purer. Pure beer brewed with pure rainwater: this is a convincing idea for the popular drink with a long history.

Benoît Johnen set to work. In a careful development process, Brain was born. It is brewed in the manner of a Trappist beer with a second fermentation on the bottle and contains 6.5% alcohol by volume.

The soft rainwater gives B-rain a distinctive character. The malt aromas in particular stand out clearly and create a particularly smooth palate. Brain should be served at 12 to 14 degrees Celsius in glasses with stems and wide rim. When pouring, please make sure that the deposit remains in the bottle. A new beer for enthusiasts - a clear pleasure.

In May 2016 the beer can be tasted for the first time. Interested parties should contact INTEWA directly - also for the follow-up production; Brain is only available from the Aachen-based company.