Beer made from sewer water is not a Portlandia sketch, it's a real thing.
Last year, Hillsboro Clean Water Services in Oregon held a competition for home brewers to create beer using 30% sewer water. Now they want to take it to the next level by teaming up with the Oregon Brew Crew to craft beer using only purified sewer water.
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Mark Jockers of the Clean Water Services told KGW News that the purified sewer water is actually cleaner than the average glass of drinking water, "The water that comes from the high purity water system is the cleanest water on the planet."
Jockers hopes that this will change the way people look at purified sewer water so that, eventually, the recycled water will help relieve droughts.
According to Oregon Public Broadcasting, the Oregon Health Authority approved the sewage water beer, but they still have several steps to take before getting the green light. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality will hold a public hearing on Feb. 12 to evaluate the proposal, and the beer will need to pass several other hearings before it's officially above-board for consumption.
That doesn't mean Portlanders will able to order "sewage brewage" on tap at their local bar -- the beer will only be served at events, not manufactured for sale at breweries.
Hopefully there will be pletnty so that people can drink enough sewage beer to not care where the water came from.
BONUS: How to open a beer bottle without a bottle opener