Craft beers have often been infused with outlandish ingredients, including coffee beans that have passed through the digestive system of an elephant.
In Portland, Oregon, beer enthusiasts are poised to produce perhaps the ultimate strange brew: a beer made from treated sewage.
Clean Water Services, which runs four waste water treatment plants in the city, produces water that has been subjected to ultra-filtration, reverse osmosis and enhanced oxidation. Consequently, it is said to be “the cleanest water on the planet”, which experts say makes it a brewer’s dream.
The water resources group plans to launch a brewing contest, although state officials will have to give permission to make sure that the water meets safe drinking standards. Those involved with the project say that the aim is to change public perceptions of treated sewage. With much of America in the grip of a serious drought, people are being urged to grow accustomed to recycled drinking water.
“What we’re really trying to do is start a conversation about the nature of water,” Mark Jockers, of Clean Water Services, told National Public Radio. “There’s no better way to start a conversation than over a beer.”