Australians are a bit slow at putting climate change near the top of their list of concerns. So GPY&R Brisbane and Earth Hour decided to show Australians how climate change will affect something that matters to a big chunk of the population.

Beer.

Climate change means more droughts. Droughts affect beer’s main ingredients – barley, hops and water. This could mean we’ll end up paying more for very average tasting beers.

So GPY&R Brisbane worked with leading craft brewers, Willie The Boatman and Young Henrys, to create Drought Draught – a poor quality beer made with drought-affected ingredients.

That way Australian pub goers can literally ‘taste the effects of climate change’.

Drought Draught was brewed with drought affected ingredients like poor quality barley and hops, and artificial supplements because the real thing would be cost-prohibitive or simply unavailable due to climate change induced drought. That water would be scarce and expensive was factored into the brewing process also.

“Our aim is to turn beer drinkers into a political force to send a message to those who can make change happen,” GPY&R Brisbane creative director, Brendan Greaney, stated.

Drought Draught was launched at a special Save The Ales event in Sydney as part of this year’s Earth Hour activities. It is being supported by a series of taste-testing events leading up to the UN Paris Climate Conference in November.

And this film…

Reece Proudfoot, Earth Hour community engagement manager explained, “This year’s Earth Hour was all about how climate change will affect farming and food production, Drought Draught was a great way to draw attention to this.”

Creative credits:

Brewer:  Pat McInerney, Willie The Boatman

Brewer:  Sam Fuss, Young Henrys

Agency: GPY&R Brisbane

Creative director:  Brendan Greaney

Group managing director: Phil McDonald
Copywriter: Samuel Boyd
Art director:  Shaun Egan

Account director: Gus Cutler
Chief digital officer: Rob Hudson