Beer made from recycled shower water could help save the environment

You can now say you’re helping the environment by drinking beer, thanks to company Epic Cleantec.

Called the Epic OneWater Brew, this beer is made from recycled wastewater.

The beer comes from a collaboration that Epic Cleantec has with Northern California-based beer maker Devil’s Canyon Brewing Company. With the wastewater - also referred to as greywater - coming from dishes, laundry, shower and sink water from a 40-story apartment complex in San Francisco.

For The Guardian, Matthew Cantor sampled a four-pack of the beer saying the taste was “pleasant,” and that he’d “never guess where it came from.”

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Epic Cleantec’s CEO, Aaron Tartakovsky, told Cantor that they wanted to “choose a beer that was going to be universally liked versus some of the more craft beers, like an IPA, that some people like, some people don’t.” So they opted for a kölsch-style beer.

The CEO said he recognised people’s initial scepticism towards the drink, but he went on to clarify that “99 per cent who came in feeling a little bit apprehensive, once they tried it, got really excited.”

The safety of the water was dated both onside and in an outside lab, according to Tartakovsky, which allowed for Epic to have “control” over the water they brewed with. “We were actually able to treat to tweak some of the temps to give the brewers a blank canvas,” he shared.

You can’t buy the beer currently, with Epic Cleantec being vocal about the fact that it’s a “demonstration product.” The company is more interested in starting a dialogue about water recycling.

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