Urban Chestnut Brewing Company’s first foray into non-alcoholic, craft beverage production is one of hopforward deliciousness. Infused with American hops, UCBC Sparkling Hop Water is unsweetened and naturally free of both alcohol and calories.
“It’s been a fun challenge for us to create a refreshing beverage without using grain, sugar, or yeast. The result is a sparkling, all-occasion beverage full of floral and piney hop flavor.” While hops have been an essential component in beer-brewing for hundreds of years, they have also been known to have certain health benefits. Hops have been used for medicinal purposes since medieval times, and today many herbalists claim they can improve overall health and may even prevent certain diseases. Current research suggests hops have mild sedative properties, can improve blood circulation, and may one day lead to the development of cancer therapies.
The idea to produce hop water came about in the spring of 2018 when Urban Chestnut, who planned to have an activation tent at last year’s Loufest, wanted to provide a non-alcoholic beverage for attendees during the event. “Once Loufest was cancelled, we were left with a good number of hop water kegs, so we put it on tap at our Grove Bierhall,” says Jon Shine, UCBC’s VP of Sales. “We were blown away by how well it was received and has been selling, so we’ve continued to produce it and keep it on tap ever since. Expanding availability by way of cans is a very natural way for us to dip our toes into an adjacent craft beverage market, where we’ll also explore infusing different variants of UCBC Hop Water with other natural ingredients like Ginseng, CBD, etc.”
UCBC Sparkling Hop Water is expected to hit shelves by Summer of 2019. It will be available in 4packs of 16oz. cans in stores where water and soda are sold.
Urban Chestnut Brewing Company (UCBC) is an unconventional-minded yet tradition-oriented brewer of craft beer. Founded in 2010 by Florian Kuplent- a German born and trained brewmaster with extensive experience at both small breweries, worldwide and with the world’s largest, Anheuser-Busch, and David Wolfe – a 20-year brewing industry member. Urban Chestnut operates three breweries in St. Louis, Brewery & Biergarten at 3229 Washington Avenue in Midtown St. Louis, Grove Brewery & Bierhall at 4465 Manchester in Forest Park Southeast St. Louis, and The U.R.B. (Urban Research Brewery) at 4501 Manchester also in Forest Park Southeast St. Louis, where they brew batches of artisanal, modern American beers (their Revolution series) and classically-crafted European styles (their Reverence series). Urban Chestnut also operates a fourth brewery, Urban Chestnut Hallertauer Brauerei, in the Hallertau region of Bavaria, where they brew their Hallertauer Serie; small batches of locally sourced, Bavarian bier. Urbanchestnut.com