A new East Bay beer is made from the finest EBMUD tap water

Internet historians might recall that one goofy video where a man’s friends modify all the plumbing in his house – kitchen and bathroom sinks, plus shower head – to pour icy-cold beer.

While this is not exactly the same experience, folks who want to drink tap-water draft now can, thanks to a new beer made from the East Bay Municipal Utility District’s finest H2O.

Water Wings is a light lager from San Leandro’s Drake’s Brewing Co. that was brewed with up to 95 percent EBMUD tap water. The collaborative beer is meant to honor the water utility’s 100th anniversary this year, as well as mark a shared interest in water quality and sustainability. Some of the sales will support EBMUD’s Water Lifeline, a program that helps customers who cannot pay water bills due to emergencies.

The beer was brewed with Zuper Saazer and Czech Saaz hops and barley, oats and toasted rice flakes. Drake’s says it “highlights what EBMUD does best: clean, high-quality H2O. Enjoy this fresh, crisp, easy-drinking lager, showcasing one of the most underappreciated ingredients in beer… water!”

The beer’s label “features the Mokelumne River, Pardee Reservoir in the Sierra foothills, the vast EBMUD watershed and a nod to the complex infrastructure that delivers clean, safe water to every home, business, school and hospital in EBMUD’s service area,” the utility says in a press release.

Drake’s is packaging the beer today and plans to have it available Friday, May 5, on draft and in cans at Drake’s Dealership in Oakland and Drake’s Barrel House in San Leandro. From there, it will go out to local stores. Drake’s will also pour the lager at a beer garden at EBMUD’s Centennial Community Fair on May 21, a free event that runs from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. at the Temescal Regional Recreation Area in Oakland.