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Toilet to Tap: Brewery Creates Beer from Recycled Wastewater

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Pale Ale
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A Southern California brewery has put sustainability on tap with a new brew made exclusively from wastewater, according to news reports.

This month, Stone Brewing unveiled its "Full Circle Pale Ale," which was made using recycled water from San Diego's Pure Water project, reported Mashable.

This was all done in the name of sustainability, the brewery said, noting how the historic drought in California affected the state's water sources. San Diego's Pure Water project — which aims to provide 30 million gallons (110 million liters) of recycled water a day to the city by 2021 — offered the brewery an opportunity to use a new water source to brew beer, while also helping raise awareness for the project, Mashable reported. [Dry and Drying: Images of Drought]

The unconventional brew even tastes great, the Times of San Diego reported, with the city's mayor calling the beer "fantastic." In fact, Stone Brewing CEO Pat Tiernan said the purified, recycled water was purer than the brewery's usual water supply, CW6 San Diego reported.

"This particular water will just help us not require so much natural water to come in, and [will] give us a more reliable source. So for us to be able to re-use, that's part of our mantra, that's part of what we do," Tiernan told CW6.

Though the Full Circle Pale Ale was a one-time-only brew made specially for an event, the wastewater beer isn't Stone Brewing's first foray into sustainability. The brewery's headquarters has its own water-reclamation system, according to Mashable, and uses solar energy for 20 percent of the building's power.

Original article on Live Science.

Kacey Deamer
Kacey Deamer
Staff Writer
Kacey Deamer is a journalist for Live Science, covering planet earth and innovation. She has previously reported for Mother Jones, the Reporter's Committee for Freedom of the Press, Neon Tommy and more. After completing her undergraduate degree in journalism and environmental studies at Ithaca College, Kacey pursued her master's in Specialized Journalism: Climate Change at USC Annenberg. Follow Kacey on Twitter.