With limited land to store and collect water, Singapore is considered to be one of the most water-stressed countries in the world. 

As water scarcity became a mounting concern for the country in the 1990s, Singapore’s national water agency — the Public Utilities Board — took a three-pronged approach to the issue: “collect every drop” of rainwater, desalinate seawater, and reclaim used water as much as possible. 

The last approach yielded NEWater: high-grade reclaimed water produced from treated wastewater. 

Today, that same water is being used to make a craft beer called NEWBrew. 

Brewerkz, the Singaporean brewery behind NEWBrew, turned quite a few heads when they handed out free cans at the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan this past week. 

NEWBrew, which was colloquially dubbed “sewage brew” by attendees,  caused quite a stir as people realized they were drinking recycled wastewater — and actually liked it. 

“I didn’t know. I was really surprised,” Ignace Urchil Lokouako Mbouamboua, an international relations student from Congo, told the Associated Press. 

“I can even suggest that they make more and more of this kind of beer,” Mbouamboua added, going in for his third can. 

“It’s fresh, light, cool,” agreed Peter Rummel, another climate talk attendee. “It has a nice flavor.” 

Ong Tze-Ch’in, the chief executive of the Public Utilities Board, said NEWBrew was developed by Brewerkz in 2018 to showcase the country’s treated wastewater during International Water Week. 

In 2022, they produced another line. And they’ve continued producing it every year since, with greater fanfare each time. 

“It’s part of the acceptance of the use of recycled water, which in general is a difficult topic,” said Ong. “We did many things to drive it.”

On its own, NEWater doesn’t always go down easy. 

“They think it tastes funny,” Ong told the AP. “When put into a beer, it changes the mindset. Most people can’t tell the difference.”

Since the craft beer’s debut in 2018, the production of sustainable beer from recycled wastewater has grown in popularity, from San Francisco’s Epic OneWater Brew to the Czech Republic’s ERKO beer.

A statement on the Brewerkz website reads: “[We have] an opportunity to cast the spotlight on climate change impacts such as droughts and floods, which threaten the world’s freshwater supply.” 

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Header image via Ketut Subiyanto / Pexels