My dad, born in the 50s in northern France says that near beer was more ubiquitous for kids than water when he was growing up. Part of it was that the ever so s

My dad, born in the 50s in northern France says that near beer was more ubiquitous for kids than water when he was growing up. Part of it was that the ever so slight fermentation of even near beer made it safer to drink than water from who knew where. I never checked the validity of this story, but it's fun to think about. It doesn't really surprise me though that cheap beer would be cheaper than mineral water brands, most of their costs have to be bottling and transport and marketing. The product itself, is probably one of the cheaper parts.