Breweries elsewhere have also made beer with recycled sewage.
“Newbrew” is no ordinary beer. The new Singapore Blonde Ale is made with recycled sewage.
The alcoholic beverage is a collaboration between the country’s national water agency, PUB, and local craft brewery Brewerkz. First unveiled at a water convention in 2018, NEWBrew went on sale in April at supermarkets and Brewerkz outlets.
“I seriously couldn’t tell it was made from toilet water,” said 58-year-old Chew Wei Lian, who bought a beer from a supermarket to try after hearing about it. “I wouldn’t mind if it was in the fridge. I mean, it tastes like beer, and I love beer.”
NewBrue uses Singapore’s brand newator of drinking water recycled from sewage, which first flowed from treatment plants in 2003 to improve the island’s water security. The pub says the new beer is part of an effort to educate Singaporeans on the importance of sustainable water use and recycling.
The idea of processing sewage into drinking water, once largely opposed, has been gaining support over the past decade as the world’s supply of fresh water is increasingly strained. The World Wildlife Fund estimates that 2.7 billion people experience water scarcity for at least one month a year.
Advanced economies such as Israel and Singapore that have limited fresh water resources have already incorporated technology into their supplies. Cities such as Los Angeles and London are investigating plans to follow suit.
Singapore’s Neuter is created by disinfecting sewage with ultraviolet light and passing the liquid through advanced membranes to remove contaminants.
The key to expanding the technology is to convince the public that, once water is processed, it is just water.
“Newwater is perfectly suited to brewing because it tastes neutral,” said Mitch Gribov, head brewer at Brewers. “The mineral profile of water plays an important role in the chemical reactions during wine making.”
Breweries elsewhere have also made beer with recycled sewage. Stockholm-based Nya Carnegie Brewery partnered with giant Carlsberg and IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute to launch a pilsner made from pure sewage, while Village Brewery in Canada teamed up with researchers from the University of Calgary and the American water technology company Xylem. His own version.
Not everyone is convinced. “There’s a lot of beer around,” said Lo Yu Chen, a 22-year-old Singaporean student. “If I want a beer, I’ll choose something made with normal water.”
But others who have sampled Newbrew say they found it to be a refreshing, mildly flavored wine that is perfect for Singapore’s tropical climate.
“If you don’t tell people it’s made from wastewater, they probably won’t know,” said 52-year-old Grace Chen after sampling the wine.
Still, if you’re in Singapore and want to taste it yourself, you might need to be quick. The first batch of NEWBrew is already sold out on tap at Brewerkz restaurants and the company expects to run out of stock in supermarkets by the end of July. The brewer said it would assess the market’s reaction before deciding to make another batch.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)