In a surprising twist, a San Francisco-based company has incorporated an unexpected ingredient into its beer – recycled water sourced from showers, sinks, and washing machines. Epic Cleantec, the brains behind this innovation, has introduced “Epic OneWater Brew,” a beverage where the water used in production is drawn from a luxury apartment building in the heart of San Francisco.
Aaron Tartakovsky, the CEO of Epic Cleantec, explained the motivation behind this unconventional approach: “We kind of live in this flush-and-forget society where we don’t think about how we flush our toilets and water just magically appears. We wanted to sort of showcase the potential of water reuse. We decided to highlight the unbelievable potential of recycled water by putting it into a beer.”
Epic Cleantec collaborated with Devil’s Canyon Brewing Company in San Carlos to craft a Kolsch-style ale using this recycled water. Initially met with some skepticism, Kenzie Carpenter from Devil’s Canyon Brewing Company shared, “We had the first reaction as one would think: it’s kind of a yuck factor.” However, once the brewing company conducted tests on the recycled water, they were pleasantly surprised.
Carpenter noted, “It actually turned out that the water’s cleaner than what we get from our reservoirs, the Hetch Hetchy.” This innovative approach to brewing highlights the potential for water reuse in a world where water scarcity is a growing concern and serves as a unique example of sustainable practices in the beverage industry.
