The party's over for a Hawaiian stream that smells like beer and boasts a 1.2% ABV

A stream in Waipio, Hawaii was part environmental issue, part all-natural kegger opportunity

By Reid McCarter  |  November 18, 2021 | 8:58pm
Aux Features Beer
The party's over for a Hawaiian stream that smells like beer and boasts a 1.2% ABV
Introducing Endless Mode: A New Games & Anime Site from Paste
A drunken excavator wets its beak next to a Hawaiian stream. Photo: Ronen Zilberman

Sad news for local teens in Oahu, Hawaii today: A stream in Waipio that was noticed because it stinks like beer has been discovered to have a 1.2% alcohol by volume (ABV) percentage and the storm pipe responsible for boozing up the water has been shut off.

The Party Stream was investigated last week and detailed in an article from Hawaii News Now. It was first noticed by Carroll Cox, an environmental activist who informed the state’s Department Of Health about the water after coming upon a creek and describing its smell as something like “a beer pub that hadn’t opened its doors for three or four days.”

It turns out that the scent was due to a storm pipe whose runoff was contaminating the stream from its origin point at a Paradise Beverages liquor and beer warehouse on the other side of a nearby highway. After testing a sample from the stream, Hawaii News Now reported that “as much as 1.2% of the water was alcohol” and “about .04% of its content” was made up of sugar. What it tasted like, unfortunately, is still anyone’s guess.

Paradise Beverages stated that it wasn’t aware of the spill but is now working with public officials to investigate how its precious alcohol ended up being made freely available to all.

The pipe is apparently closed up now, too, meaning The Party Stream is already winding its operations down. This is good news for the environment, of course, but a real tragedy for the local teenagers who had been able to enjoy slurping up handfuls of free beer-water and the wildlife who had found a brief refuge from the demands of their lives by finding a surprisingly relaxing new watering hole.

[via Boing Boing]

Send Great Job, Internet tips to [email protected]

 
Join the discussion...