Brewery Stops Beer Production To Can Water For Hurricane Victims

CARTERSVILLE, GA — Anheuser-Busch’s Cartersville Brewery on Monday paused beer production to can emergency drinking water after a high demand for clean, safe water following the California wildfires and Hurricanes Florence and Michael exhausted existing stocks.

This the second time in as many weeks the brewery has halted production of beer to provide this essential nutrient to people hit hard by natural disasters around the country.

“Recent donations to disaster relief efforts have depleted our inventory of emergency drinking water. We need to be ready to help next time the Red Cross requests our assistance,” said Bill Bradley, vice president of community affairs at Anheuser-Busch. “We’ve made a commitment to be there for American communities in times of need, and we are following through on that promise.”

Throughout the year, the Cartersville brewery schedules periodic pauses of beer production to can drinking water. The water is staged locally, ready to be shipped at a moment’s notice once the brewer receives a request from its longstanding partner, the American Red Cross. At the request of the Red Cross, Anheuser-Busch has provided more than 800,000 cans – or 16 truckloads – of emergency drinking water so far in 2018, prompting Monday's unscheduled run to replenish stocks.

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In September, Anheuser-Busch introduced the water canning capability to its Fort Collins, Colorado, brewery doubling its production capacity and enabling the brewer to more quickly help communities in need from coast-to-coast.

“This program is made possible by our employees at the Cartersville and Fort Collins Breweries, and our wholesaler partners who never hesitate to go the extra mile when American communities are facing difficult times,” Bradley added.

For the past 30 years, Anheuser-Busch has partnered with the American Red Cross to provide emergency drinking water for disaster relief efforts. Since 1988, Anheuser-Busch and its wholesaler partners have provided nearly 80 million cans of water to U.S. communities affected by natural disasters nationwide.
To learn more about Anheuser-Busch’s disaster relief efforts, visit the brewery's website.

Image via Anheuser-Busch