Second Street Brewery is celebrating Oktoberfest with a special event at the Railyard location today (Tuesday) from 5 to 8 p.m. It is not, however, just about the beer.

The name of this special brew, which will be on tap and for sale in six-pack cans, is Oktoberforest, and is part of a wider campaign by The Nature Conservancy this autumn. Second Street is one of 150-plus breweries across the country that are participating. The goal is to show how the health of our forests impacts the health of our rivers, which in turn provide the very water that beer is brewed with across the country.

As the article on The Nature Conservancy site notes, “Clean, plentiful water depends on healthy surrounding natural areas, like forests. From the tree canopy all the way down to root systems, every part of a forest plays a critical role in cleaning, storing and protecting our water supply. Tree canopies of large forests influence rainfall patterns across the globe. They produce moisture in the atmosphere, known as “rivers in the sky,” that fall as rain locally and thousands of miles away.”

That certainly applies to the many breweries in Northern New Mexico, and some to the south as well. Second Street and Bosque are the two New Mexico participants, in case anyone was wondering why Bosque also named its Marzen as Oktoberforest.

Second Street creative director Mariah Scee spoke to The Nature Conservancy about why her brewery participated in an interview online, but we wanted to make sure to share the best quote here: “All of our staff have a deeply personal connection to the landscape surrounding Santa Fe and spend a lot of time outside on our public lands. Our head brewer recalls one of his most poignant moments mountaineering, camped in the woods above the headwaters of the Rio Grande and looking down to realize that this is the water that keeps us alive, feeds us and nourishes our souls.”

Water is life, and without water, there is no beer. Stop by Second Street Railyard today for a pint, a sixer, and a chance to show your support for the environment.

Cheers!

— Stoutmeister