Heavens Water from Amsterdam

Through climate change, rainfall has increased noticeably in the Netherlands. As The Guardian reports, a group of Dutch entrepreneurs took this as a chance to use the rain for their new business idea. At the De Prael brewery in Amsterdam, they created a rainwater beer with 5,7% out of filtered rain, barley, wheat, hops and yeast.

The idea for the “Helmeswater”(meaning "heavens water" in Dutch) came to them due to the government initiative Amsterdam Rainproof, which wants to increase the citizens awareness for the problems of heavy rainfall in the city. The aim is to find ways of “absorbing” the water – using it in some way – before it can cause flash floods in Amsterdam.

Through filtering, using rainwater could actually make cleaner beer than using normal tap water, which often contains drugs and hormones. “It seems like a disruptive idea, but when we researched it, in the middle ages, [Dutch] breweries set up near churches and cathedrals to catch rainwater runoff from their roofs”, said Joris Hoebe, co-founder of Helmeswater.