SweetWater Helps Black Warrior Riverkeeper “Save Our Water”

SweetWater Helps Black Warrior Riverkeeper “Save Our Water” 

From July 3 through Labor Day, SweetWater Brewing Company’s annual “Save Our Water” campaign encourages folks to “give of their liver to save the river” in a multifaceted fundraising effort for Waterkeeper Alliance, a global movement of on-the-water advocates. Funds and awareness are generated by purchases of “Save Our Water” t-shirts and signature-ready “fundraising fish” at participating restaurants, bars and retail accounts across SweetWater’s distribution footprint. Patrons may visit waterkeeperbrew.org to donate online and learn about the projects their dollars will fund in their local communities.

In Tuscaloosa, the nonprofit clean water advocacy organization Black Warrior Riverkeeper protects the Black Warrior River and Lake Tuscaloosa, the city’s drinking water source. Scott Smith of Supreme Beverage Company and Kristen Ellis of The University of Alabama will help run Tuscaloosa’s “Save Our Water” program, which will be called “Save the Black Warrior” locally. Mountain High Outfitters will donate prizes to bartenders and servers who raise the most money for Black Warrior Riverkeeper at each of the 20 participating businesses.

“Our ‘Save the Black Warrior’ partnership with SweetWater has raised over $68,000 since 2008 for the Black Warrior River watershed,” said Charles Scribner, Executive Director of Black Warrior Riverkeeper.  “We are so grateful to have 20 Tuscaloosa businesses raising money and awareness for local waterways all summer long.”

Supporting the conservation of some of the nation’s most threatened rivers, streams and coastlines is a cause near and dear to the brewery, as clean water is also vital to the creation of their tasty brews. SweetWater founded the “Save Our Water” program in 2006 with its local Chattahoochee Riverkeeper in Atlanta, and efforts grew larger as the brewery did. Since the inception of the program, SweetWater has helped raise more than $600,000 for the cause, with $100,000 raised in 2014 alone.

In 2011 SweetWater launched Waterkeeper® Hefeweizen, a beer with a cause, helping to spread the campaign’s mission right on the beer label. Now, as part of their seasonal Catch & Release line-up, the unfiltered brew made its return to shelves and draft taps earlier this June.

Waterkeeper Alliance is a global movement uniting more than 200 Waterkeeper organizations and focusing citizen advocacy on the issues that affect our waterways, from pollution to climate change. Waterkeepers patrol and protect more than 1.5 million square miles of rivers, streams and coastlines in the Americas, Europe, Australia, Asia and Africa.  Waterkeeper Alliance was founded in 1999 by veteran Waterkeepers and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to insure our global waterways are swimmable, drinkable and fishable. Learn more at: www.waterkeeper.org or follow @Waterkeeper on Twitter and Facebook.

SweetWater Brewing Company is an Atlanta‐based craft brewery following the motto “Don’t Float the Mainstream!” SweetWater’s brews are unpasteurized and designed to be consumed fresh so distribution is limited to the Southeast. SweetWater Brewery, open for tours every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 5:30‐7:30 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays from 1:30‐4:30 p.m. For more information about SweetWater Brewing Company, please visit sweetwaterbrew.com. Follow SweetWater on Twitter and Instagram @sweetwaterbrew, and become a fan on Facebook: www.facebook.com/sweetwaterbrew.

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