California Company Testing Beer Made From Used Toilet Water

Greywater beer (on the left) and same type of beer made with conventional municipal water. Photograph: Half Moon Bay Beer Brewing Company — Greywater beer (on the left) and same type of beer made with conventional municipal water. Photograph: Half Moon Bay Brewing Company

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California is suffering one of the worst droughts in history, which according to Oregon Live, is causing some companies to become very creative with what they use to make their products…particularly in the beer industry:

Half Moon Bay Brewing created an IPA with gray water from toilets and showers. The water, of course, is treated using NASA’s system that allows astronauts, such as recently-returned Scott Kelly, to brew coffee with their sweat and urine.

The beer isn’t for mass sale yet, according to the Guardian, just as Oregon’s experiments at turning wastewater to beer haven’t quite earned the right to store shelves yet.

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The Guardian’s Kristine Wong reported how, while most breweries are trying to get their water:beer ratio down to three gallons of water for every gallon of beer produced, not all are interested in turning “gray water” into beer. Except for Half Moon Bay Brewing:

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Last October the brewery unveiled a version of its regular Mavericks Tunnel Vision IPA made with recycled water after a blind taste test at an urban sustainability conference in the Bay Area.

Made using the same Nasa water recycling technology as astronaut Scott Kelly used during his year long stint on the International Space Station, the tasting panel couldn’t detect which of the two pints was made with recycled water.

“This is the product [where] people think that water is the most important ingredient,” said Mendonca. “So if I can demonstrate to people that not only is [greywater beer] good, but it’s great, then why wouldn’t you use that water for everything else?”