Architect Russ Drinker became fixated on brewing beer from recycled grey water, three years after California's devastating drought, Fox News reports.
"They were focused on conservation instead. But if Californians really want to have an impact on our water use, we have to recycle our freshwater ... and get over our psychological resistance to that." said Drinker.
He was increasingly frustrated that the media paid little attention to water recycling.
While some microbrewers have been working hard to get their water usage down - some to three gallons of water for every gallon of beer - the industry has a high water to beer ratio. Despite this, it took Drinker about a year to find a brewer up for the challenge.
In 2014, Half Moon Bay Brewing owner Lenny Mendonca was approached by architect Russ Drinker who wanted to use beer's popularity to highlight solutions to California's ongoing water crisis. The current focus has been on conservation, with such efforts as making it illegal to refill your water glasses at restaurants unless patrons ask, as reported by the Guardian.
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, according to the Beer Advocate.
"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?"
Mendonca has only made the grey water beer available for sampling twice and says commercializing the product isn't his first priority. California can't legally directly pump treated recycled water back into the drinking water supply, so it's currently not practical or cost effective. His focus instead is on using the beer as a tool to catch the eye of both policymakers and the public.
The US Geological Survey estimates that some 15 million people living in the Mississippi River watershed rely on the river for water and also have their wastes discharged into the river. So we are already drinking waste water. Hats off to Half Moon Bay Brewing Company!
