Calgary-based beer maker, Village Brewery, has partnered with the University of Calgary researches along with Xylem Inc. -water technology company- to brew a 1,600-can batch of a blond ale made with reused wastewater.

“Certainly we do expect some eyebrows raised and the yuck factor is real,” said Christine O’Grady, project co-ordinator at Advancing Canadian Wastewater Assets (ACWA). “Part of this project … is to start the conversation about how this can be done, why it should be done and that water is a resource that we need to protect.”

The ACWA team took partially treated water from the Pine Wastewater Treatment Facility by Bow River and ran it through several filtration systems in order to make it drinkable.  From here, they approached Village Brewery.

“The big thing for us was to try to make sure that the beer tasted the exact same as our other normal Village Blonde and we achieved that,” said Jackson Stuart, the brewery’s marketing manager.

The one main difference in how the brew is made is that the water arrived in tanks instead of the tap. Village Brewery is hoping to convey this message to their customers.

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