Just as your canned Guinness stout or Heineken or even Star, canned NEWBrew is no different beer. Only that the new Singapore blond ale is made with recycled sewage, of which beer in Nigeria don't. In fact, if a brewer should dare try that in Nigeria 🇳🇬 of today, the company should be ready for closure the following day or two. Of course, Singapore is not Nigeria.
The alcoholic beverage is a product of the collaboration between Singapore’s national water agency, PUB, and local craft brewery Brewerkz. Though first unveiled at a water conference in wayback 2018, NEWBrew went on sale in supermarkets and at Brewerkz outlets in April of this year 2022.
“I seriously couldn’t tell this was made of toilet water,” said Chew Wei Lian, 58, who had purchased the beer from a supermarket to give a try after hearing about it. “I don’t mind having it if it was in the fridge. I mean, it tastes just like beer, and I like beer.”
NEWBrew is made of NEWater, Singapore’s brand of drinking water recycled from sewage, which first flowed from treatment plants in 2003 to improve the island’s water security. PUB says the new beer is part of an effort to educate Singaporeans on the importance of sustainable water use and recycling.
The idea of processing sewage into drinking water, once largely resisted, has been gaining support in the past decade as the world’s supply of fresh water is increasingly under stress. The World Wildlife Fund estimates 2.7 billion people find water scarce for at least one month a year.
Advanced economies such as Israel and Singapore that have limited fresh water resources have already incorporated the technology into their supplies. Cities such as Los Angeles and London are examining plans to follow suit.
Singapore’s NEWater is made by disinfecting sewage with ultraviolet light and passing the liquid through advanced membranes to remove contaminant particles.
Key to expanding the technology is to persuade the public that, once the water has been processed, it’s just water.
“NEWater perfectly suits brewing because it tastes neutral,” said Mitch Gribov, Brewerkz’s head brewer. “The mineral profile of water plays a key role in chemical reactions during brewing.”
Breweries elsewhere have also made beer with recycled sewage. For instance, Stockholm-based Nya Carnegie Brewery partnered with brewing giant Carlsberg and IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute to launch a pilsner made with purified sewage, while Village Brewery in Canada teamed up with researchers from the University of Calgary and and US water technology company Xylem to roll out their own version.
However, as with every new product, not everyone is convinced. They are some people who say they'll rather go for something made of normal water. But others who have sipped NEWBrew, say they find that it's a refreshing, light-tasting ale that's perfect for the Singorean tropical climate.
"If you don't tell people it's made from waste water, they probably won't know ", said a Grace Chen 52, after sampling the ale.
At the moment, the first batch of NEWBrew is already sold out at Brewerkz restaurants and the company expects stocks at supermarkets to run out by the end of July. The local brewer said it will assess the public response of the beer before deciding on whether to brew the next batch.
Photo credit: Brewerkz
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