Drink beer made from recycled water

Hand people an ice-cold, crystalclear cup of recycled water, and you’re likely to get some upturned noses. But hand them a cloudy, pale yellow beer made from the stuff, and suddenly everyone’s a recycled-water connoisseur. That’s the genius behind the AZ Pure Water Brew Challenge, which enlisted 26 breweries statewide to make brews with water from Phoenix’s 23rd Avenue wastewater treatment plant.

And no, before you wrinkle your nose, it’s not what you think.

After the water left the plant, the group subjected it to an advanced treatment process involving ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis, UV/advanced oxidation, activated carbon and chlorine. The equipment is contained in a truck — an education project funded largely by last year’s New Arizona Prize: Water Innovation Challenge — so it can be purified on location throughout the state.

What emerged is a water that, according to rigorous testing, is far purer than the tap and bottled water we drink. And, actually, it’s quite delicious. Especially when it meets hops and barley.

I know, because we put the water to the test.

We asked four brewers who entered the brewing contest – Two Brothers in Scottsdale, Freak’N Brewing in Peoria, and Wren House and Mother Bunch in Phoenix — to subject their entries to a taste test. We also asked them to supply a similar style beer made from their typical water source.

Then we gave each pair of beers to a panel of five tasters with varied knowledge of beer and water filtration, and asked them to pick out which one was made from recycled water.

Our bet was that they couldn’t tell. And we were half right.

Most tasters had no idea which one was made from recycled water.

More interestingly, because we asked them to make a decision, most tasters ended up choosing the brew they liked best. And, by and large, the one they liked best was made with recycled water. There may be a good reason for that. Before brewers can start making beer, they must strip the water they use of minerals like sodium and calcium then re-add them in highly precise quantities. Those elements interact with the other ingredients in beer to create the flavors a brewer seeks.

The four brewers who participated in our taste test said they’d prefer to brew with recycled water if the price was right because it was so pure that it was basically a blank slate, allowing them more control to build the water to their specifications.

So, if recycled water is so great, why aren’t we using it more?

We know that Arizona needs more water. The Colorado River, a key water source for the state, does not have enough water to satisfy long-term demand. We also know that conservation alone won’t be enough to keep our taps flowing. Eventually, we’re going to need more water.

There’s a lot of talk among water planners about desalination, the process that removes salt deposits from water. And that’s fitting, particularly in places like Mexico and California that have lots of ocean water at their disposal.

But desalination is costly inland (there’s a reason the desalting plant in Yuma to clean brackish groundwater has been mothballed). And recycling water requires less energy and produces fewer greenhouse gases than desalination, according to data from San Diego’s Pure Water program.

The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality — the agency charged with regulating recycled water — also is in the process of changing its rules for potable use.

So, why isn’t recycling getting as much buzz? Does the “ick” factor some people have really kill the idea?

It shouldn’t. Especially when you consider every drop we already drink has been naturally recycled for eons.

That’s why education efforts like the AZ Pure Water Brew Challenge are so important. They take the point to the people — because what is more everyman than beer? — and prove it with something no one can dispute: Great taste.

Joanna Allhands is azcentral’s digital opinions editor, a water nerd and a beer lover. Reach her at joanna.allhands@arizona republic.com.