by Urban South Brewery owner Jacob Landry attended ‘Fox & Friends First’ to discuss how shortages affect price and production capability.
Taylor O’Neil, CEO of Richard’s Rainwater, collaborates with breweries around the country to collect and bottle rainwater.
The managing director, who took over in 2017, strives to ensure that the masses have access to clean, local drinking water, and claims that “rainwater is actually the cleanest source of drinking water there is.”
Just last month, Richard’s Rainwater, the only nationally distributed bottled rainwater beverage on the market, was launched by Faubourg Brewing Co. in New Orleans. opened the country’s largest rainwater harvesting facility in partnership with
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According to O’Neil, this is the second of many partnerships yet to come.
“Our mission is to collect rain in as many communities as we can to make water local and renewable in these catchments and use what we believe is the most valuable resource,” O’Neil told FOX Business.
Richard’s Rainwater is located in New Orleans at the Faubourg Brewing Co. jointly opens a potable rainwater catchment area. (Richard’s Rainwater)
In 1994, company founder Richard Heinichen installed a rain harvesting system at his home in Texas for his family and neighbors after getting fed up with water options.
According to O’Neil, he was “a hippie trying to figure out what’s possible”.
Eight years later, Richard’s Rainwater became the first company in the United States to be licensed to bottle and distribute rainwater. According to O’Neil, after gaining approval, Heinichen began selling the system to other people in the Austin area who “shared the worldview”.
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In 2018, the company made its first partnership with a Lazy Magnolia brewery in Kiln, Mississippi, to bring ethically sourced bottled rainwater to more consumers.
How does the treatment process work?
The treatment process is what sets it apart from its competitors. According to O’Neil, the company uses a zero-waste and chlorine-free system.
The first 0.2 inches of water from each rain is never collected and instead goes directly to the brewery’s existing stormwater management system.
Faubourg Brewery in New Orleans (Faubourg Brewing Company)
“This allows Mother Nature to take a first step into the filtration process. When it rains, it naturally clears the sky and atmosphere of any impurities,” he said. “The result is 100 times cleaner (never touched) water without going through Richard’s proprietary purification process.
“Once the natural cleansing rain threshold has passed, a valve is actuated to start collecting the rain,” he added.
O’Neil said the rain went through a series of filters and went straight to the bottling plant’s filler, where he then packed it there with his crews equipment.
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According to O’Neil, last month Faubourg Brewing Co. Having solidified an agreement with Richard’s Rainwater, it doubled its production capacity.
The company was able to generate approximately one million cases on an annual basis between the two facilities.
Richard’s Rainwater is located in New Orleans at the Faubourg Brewing Co. jointly opens a potable rainwater catchment area. (Richard’s Rainwater)
The next step, according to O’Neil, is to create more partnerships with all bottlers in the Pacific Southwest and Northwest so that Richard’s Rainwater can expand its reach. From there, he said, “We will fill the rest of the country as sales demand and partnerships become more practical.”
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While the company has only partnered with breweries, O’Neil said it’s willing to work with anyone who can put liquids in aluminum cans or glass bottles.
“The more decentralized the process becomes, the more thoughtful we can be about where the water goes once it’s put in our packaging,” he said.
Bottles of regular and mineral water have already been distributed to Whole Foods stores nationwide and will soon be available at Sprouts stores nationwide. The drinks may also be available on the shelves of some Kroger and Albertsons locations, O’Neil said.
