Beer is made from more than 90 percent water and in a world facing water shortages and climate change, Singapore decided to try something so radical to help, it just might work.

Singapore’s water agency is producing a craft beer that is mostly made from wastewater.

The sewage is treated to become “ultra-clean” water, before it is used to create the new tropical blonde ale.

Singapore already treats sewage to create NEWater, which then gets pumped back into the system and is mainly used for industrial and air-conditioning purposes.

During dry periods, the recycled sewage gets added to reservoirs, before the water is treated and used as tap water.

NEWBrew – a craft beer which lends itself as having a “toasted, honey-like aftertaste” – is a way for Singapore to protect its water supply. 

As temperatures continue to rise, water shortages continue to climb so this is becoming even more important as the climate crisis increases the risk of droughts. Southeast Asia was warned about this in the latest International Panel for Climate Change report.

Last month, the United Nations warned one in four children could suffer from shortages by 2040 due to the impacts of the climate crisis.

So not only has Singapore found a way to help the environment, but it also quenches beer drinkers’ thirst.

“It definitely goes down smooth,” one man told the BBC. “I could probably, if I wanted to, drink a whole lot of those.”