The Swedish Environmental Research Institute (IVL) has partnered with boutique Swedish brewery Nya Carnegie Bryggeriet and Carlsberg Sweden to develop PU:REST, a 4.8% pilsner made using organic malt, hops and recycled waste water.
Recycled water is safe to drink, but most of us are still reluctant to imbibe – so the Institute is betting that turning it into beer could be the answer.
They aren’t the first to give recycled beer a go. Last year a brewing company in California made headlines after creating a small batch of ale from wastewater, but this is the first time people will be able to buy recycled beer straight from their local Bottle-O.
When the beer really is … crap
So what do the punters think?
Comments on social media ranged from “very tasty” to a definite thumbs down, with one reviewer saying there was “not a shred of taste from faeces…” (Good to know!)
Not that the idea of drinking sewage beer is appealing to many Swedes – they’ve already nicknamed the beer bajsöl or “crap beer”.
Definitely gives a whole new meaning to knocking back a cold one.