This beer is made from recycled shower water. Is it the taste of the future?
After years of historic drought in California, water recycling has become a pressing issue – but just how much can be done with what we’ve got?
A water-recycling company is seeking to answer that question, with help from a local brewery. The result is a beer made from wastewater, and I can tell you from personal experience that it’s pretty good.
Epic OneWater Brew, from Epic Cleantec and Devil’s Canyon Brewing Company, is made from greywater recycled from showers, laundry and bathroom sinks in a 40-story San Francisco apartment building, where Epic has onsite equipment to capture, treat and reuse water for non-drinking purposes.
You won’t find the beer for sale anytime soon. Epic has been open about the fact that it’s a “demonstration product”: the company’s goal is to get people talking about the possibilities of water recycling, and current commercial regulations on recycled drinking water are strict.
“We wanted to do something fun that was going to be an engaging tool to talk to people, to get them excited, but also that showcased the untapped potential of water reuse,” said Aaron Tartakovsky, Epic Cleantec’s co-founder and CEO. They opted for a kölsch: “We wanted to choose a beer that was going to be sort of more universally liked versus some of the more craft beers, like an IPA, that some people like, some people don’t.”
But how would beer from a giant apartment building’s wastewater actually taste? To find out, I sampled a four-pack of OneWater Brew. It was pleasant and, to recycle some terms I’ve heard beer people use, crisp and drinkable. There were no notes of shower or laundry. If this were served at a bar, I’d never guess where it came from.
Did other drinkers approve? “I think a lot of people, initially and
Read more on theguardian.com
