While our country sighs under the ongoing heat, De Hemel brewery launches a rain beer. Parapluvius, as it is called, has to create awareness about the implications of climate change.

Because of our changing climate, long rainfall and peak showers will cause a lot of flooding in the future. ‘In April and May, we have felt what climate change is going to mean for us’, says weather woman and Radboud alumna Margot Ribberink, who is associated with the rain beer project through Nijmegen European Green Capital.

According to the weather woman’s observations, 80 millimeters water fell in Oosterhout recently, within just one hour. ‘That means eighty buckets of water on one square meter’, says Ribberink. ‘These kinds of showers will happen more often in the future. Warmer air can contain more fluids.’

Before, that water was drained through the sewer system. A waste, says Ribberink. ‘That water can be used to make very nice things: coffee, bread or beer. We hope that when people drink this beer, they will talk about the changing climate and what we can do about it. When people from Nijmegen collect the rain water together, we can be a climate-proof city in 2050.’

Licorice
The rain water that falls on the roof of De Hemel brewery, goes into a rain pipe and ends up in a tank. Before in ends up in the big brew kettle, it is filtered. The rest of the brewing proces is identical to that of other beers.

A beer with a message, in short, but also not unimportant: is it drinkable? Parabluvius is a blond wheat beer with 5,5 percent alcohol, and a herbal aftertaste of licorice and orange zest. You won’t find the taste of rain water in this beer. ‘Water does not give the beer its flavor, hops, malt and barley do that’, says brewer Thieu Hegger.

Parapluvius will be available in cafés that sell De Hemel beers, and possibly soon in the Cultuurcafé on campus. Let the rain fall!