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Unappealing Beer: A Sobering Taste of Climate Change’s Brewing Impact

How intentionally bad beer reveals the looming threat climate change poses to the brewing industry across taste, supply, and sustainability.

By Sneha Tete, Integrated MA, Certified Relationship Coach

Created on Sep 27, 2025

How intentionally bad beer reveals the looming threat climate change poses to the brewing industry across taste, supply, and sustainability.

Unappealing Beer: Climate Change’s Sobering Impact on Brewing

Beer has been a staple of human culture for millennia, its flavors shaped by the land, climate, and agricultural bounty available to brewers. But as our planet faces accelerating climate change, the cherished taste and future of beer are in question. In a striking move, some breweries have begun crafting intentionally bad-tasting beer as a wake-up call to the environmental challenges threatening brewing worldwide.

Beer’s Vulnerability in a Changing Climate

Beer draws its identity and appeal from natural ingredients: barley, hops, water, and yeast. These, however, are all subject to the whims of climate. As global temperatures rise, water scarcity worsens, and extreme weather events become common, these foundational elements are increasingly thrown into jeopardy. Barley crops are especially vulnerable to drought and excessive heat, while the growth of quality hops is closely tied to climatic stability.

Water constitutes up to 95% of a standard beer, making disruptions to water supply and quality especially destructive to brewing.
Barley yield and quality diminish dramatically under drought stress, causing shortages and raising costs.
Hops, which give beer distinctive bitterness and aroma, lose quality if climate-driven factors alter their character.

The Rise of the ‘Unappealing’ Beer: Purposefully Gross for a Cause

To bring these concerns to the forefront, some breweries have released beers designed to taste unpleasant—showcasing the flavors we might face if climate change continues unchecked. New Belgium Brewing Co., for instance, launched Fat Tire Torched Earth Ale, brewed with drought-resistant grains (millet and buckwheat), dandelions, smoke-tainted water, and hop extract instead of fresh hops. The resulting taste is intentionally smoky, bitter, and starchy.

Smoke-tainted water represents the impact of wildfires on water sources.
Drought-resistant grains highlight the changing agricultural landscape.
Dandelions and hop extract symbolize how climate stress forces brewers to use shelf-stable, less palatable ingredients.

This “gross” beer is not just a novelty—it’s a warning. If brewing ingredients become harder to grow and more expensive due to climate change, unpleasant flavors and diminished supply could become a new norm.

How Brewing Ingredients Suffer Under Climate Change

The effect of climate change on brewing stems from three major environmental shifts:

Rising Temperatures: Alter crop yields and complicate the cultivation of barley and hops.
Increased Atmospheric CO₂: Influences plant metabolic processes and can affect taste and yield.
Extreme Weather: More frequent droughts, floods, and wildfires destabilize agricultural production and threaten water supplies.

For example:

Barley and wheat fields suffer lower yields when exposed to heat waves.
Hops may develop more bitterness or lose characteristic flavors if grown in hotter conditions.
Water may become contaminated or scarce after wildfires and droughts.

Brewery Responses: From Sustainability to Shock Tactics

Faced with these threats, breweries are taking action—some by reducing their own impact, others by pushing for larger industry change. Efforts include:

Sustainable sourcing: Treehugger Pilsner, produced in New Zealand by Garage Project, uses locally grown, low-footprint ingredients and is crafted with planet-friendly processes and packaging.
Renewable energy: Giants like Heineken aim for carbon-neutral breweries powered by solar and biomass by 2030/2040.
Carbon reduction technologies: Innovations such as CO₂ recovery units and energy-efficient cold storage in breweries.
Shock campaigns: The Fat Tire Torched Earth Ale and its sustainability campaign urge beer drinkers to demand climate action from their favorite brands.

Brewery	Sustainability Actions	Climate Change Awareness Initiatives
New Belgium Brewing Co.	Drought- and smoke-resistant ingredients, sustainability campaigns	Fat Tire Torched Earth Ale
Garage Project	Local/raw ingredients, recycled packaging, energy-efficient brewery upgrades	Treehugger Pilsner, tree planting with every purchase
Heineken	Zero-carbon breweries, solar energy, sustainable supply chains	Corporate climate targets, customer engagement

Sustainability in Practice: The Treehugger Pilsner Story

The Treehugger Pilsner by Garage Project embodies what sustainable brewing might look like in a climate-affected world:

Locally sourced ingredients: Every component is grown and produced in New Zealand, minimizing transport emissions.
Regenerative agriculture: Suppliers use farming methods that restore soil health and enhance biodiversity.
Energy efficiency: Upgraded warehouse cold rooms cut electricity use by 25%, drastically reducing refrigeration’s climate impact.
Reduced carbon footprint: Brewing process captures natural CO₂, uses nitrogen instead of CO₂ for purging cans, and lowers energy inputs.
Eco-friendly packaging: 84% recycled cardboard, less ink, plant-based outer wraps, and minimized waste.
Tree planting: For every case sold, a tree is planted through Trees for Canterbury.

Despite the sustainable methods, Treehugger still delivers a clean, crisp pilsner with tropical, lime, and Sauvignon Blanc notes, demonstrating that quality and eco-minded production can mix.

The Economic and Social Imperative for Climate Action

Brewers and CEOs stress that failure to adapt to climate threats isn’t just an environmental risk but a business one. As Steve Fechheimer, CEO of New Belgium, argues: “If you don’t have a climate plan, you don’t have a business plan.” Climate resilience makes long-term sense for supply chains, shareholder value, and the preservation of jobs.

Rising costs: Scarcity and expense of natural ingredients could make beer prices surge or supply shrink.
Job security: Breweries provide employment globally, which is threatened by unstable supply chains.
Stakeholder pressure: Consumers and investors increasingly demand real climate action from brands.

Consumer Power: Why Your Beer Choices Matter

Beer drinkers are not passive in this story. Brands like Fat Tire and Treehugger use their unusual beers and marketing campaigns to spur citizen involvement. Last Call for Climate initiatives encourage customers to demand that brands adopt ambitious 2030 climate plans and prioritize sustainability at every level.

Let your favorite breweries know that sustainable practices matter to you.
Choose brands with transparent climate commitments and eco-friendly production.
Stay informed: Awareness shifts business strategies as much as regulation.

Future Trends: Will Beer Ever Taste the Same?

Will the classic taste of your favorite beer survive sweeping climate changes? Not without intervention:

If current trends continue, beer may grow more expensive and less available.
Inventive brewing—using drought-resistant grains, recycling water, reducing emissions—will be key to flavor preservation.
Consumers must lobby for large-scale agricultural reform as well as individual brewery innovation.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: Why does climate change affect the taste of beer?

A: Climate change alters the growth conditions and quality of beer ingredients—such as barley and hops—by causing droughts, heatwaves, and water contamination, leading to less appealing flavor profiles.

Q: What is ‘Torched Earth Ale’ and why does it taste bad?

A: Fat Tire Torched Earth Ale is an intentionally unpleasant beer by New Belgium Brewing, made to reflect the limited, poor-quality ingredients breweries may be forced to use under worsening climate conditions (smoke-tainted water, drought grains, dandelions), demonstrating the future risks to beer.

Q: How are breweries adapting to climate change?

A: Breweries are using local and regenerative ingredients, renewable energy, efficient technology, planet-friendly packaging, and campaigns to promote consumer awareness—all aimed at shrinking their carbon footprint and ensuring long-term brewing viability.

Q: What can beer drinkers do to help?

A: Drinkers can support breweries with strong sustainability commitments, demand climate action from their favorite brands, stay educated on environmental issues, and lobby for industry-wide change.

Q: Will the cost and availability of beer change?

A: Yes, experts warn that beer could become more expensive and in short supply if climate change remains unchecked, as ingredient shortages and increased production challenges drive up costs.

Key Takeaways for Sustainable Beer Lovers

Climate change poses a direct threat to the traditional taste and availability of beer worldwide.
Intentionally bad-tasting beers are used as awareness tools, highlighting what’s at risk.
Sustainable brewing isn’t just possible—breweries are actively investing in local sourcing, clean energy, and eco-friendly practices.
Consumer choices and advocacy are essential to push both small craft producers and large breweries toward climate-resilient operations.
If action is not taken, the beer industry—and the flavors we love—may dramatically change by the end of the century.

References

Author

Sneha TeteBeauty & Lifestyle Writer

Sneha is a relationships and lifestyle writer with a strong foundation in applied linguistics and certified training in relationship coaching. She brings over five years of writing experience to thebridalbox, crafting thoughtful, research-driven content that empowers readers to build healthier relationships, boost emotional well-being, and embrace holistic living.

Read full bio of Sneha Tete