photo credit: Tina Caputo
Nile Zacherle samples spring water near Agwin.

Water is a key ingredient in brewing beer, along with hops and barley, but you rarely see it mentioned on labels. Water is just water. Right? Well, not all producers feel that way.

Nile Zacherle, the owner of Mad Fritz Brewery in Napa Valley, goes to extremes to source water from wells and springs throughout the region to use for different beers. He regularly drives Napa’s winding back roads to collect water in a 350-gallon tote that he keeps in the back of his van.

While lots of beer producers adjust the composition of their water to suit different beer styles, what Zacherle is doing could be considered – well, a little bit nutty.

On a recent visit to one of his favorite spots outside the town of Angwin, set in a small pullout on the side of the road, Zacherle explained the spring’s appeal.

“The water itself has a really pure nose. It's not sulfurous it, it's very clean,” he said. “In the palate, it's really soft and plush.” In contrast, he noted, the St. Helena reservoir water he uses for many of his beers has more minerality.

Zacherle—who is also the winemaker for David Arthur Vineyards in Napa Valley—selects the water for each beer depending on the style. He likes the softer Angwin water for German-style beers because he feels it softens bitter notes. For IPAs and Belgians, he uses a hard spring water from a nearby vineyard property to add minerality.

“We kind of pick and choose beer styles to play with these waters and just have fun with them,” Zacherle said.

The differences between the water profiles aren’t the kind that tend to jump out of the glass, and that begs the question: Don’t the distinctions don’t get lost among the hops and barley?

“I know [the water] makes a difference,” Zacherle said, “but it's very subjective. It's very subtle.”

For him, it’s more about the story of where the water comes from. It’s part of something he calls “origin brewing.”

“It was always part of the fingerprint, the fabric of Origin Beer,” Zacherle said. “Where does our water come from? Our grain, our barley, our hops? All these elements play a role in the personality of the beer.”

And even if the impact in the glass is practically undetectable, Zacherle said, he feels it’s still worth the extra effort of bringing in different waters. 

“Some might think what I'm doing is a little extreme,” he said. “I just feel like I want to continue putting that other element into the beer. Like wine, beer can have a sense of place.”