Friday Happy Hour: A Beer Pipeline in Belgium

Matthias Verbegt reports on the ambitious dream of Xavier Vanneste, "heir to a dynasty of beer brewers" in Bruges, Belgium. Vanneste has spent the last four years planning and building a beer pipeline that "stretches 2 miles from the brewery, De Halve Maan, or The Half Moon, in the city center to the bottling plant in an industrial area."

"[The pipeline] will be able to carry 1,500 gallons of beer an hour at 12 mph," reports Verbegt. "Hundreds of truck trips a year will no longer be necessary." Taking all those trips off the road is also expected to improve traffic in the notoriously congested medieval city.

The pipeline inspired some fun at the expense of Bruges' beer lovers. "A local satirical TV show tricked people living near the route into believing that beer taps could be installed in their houses," writes Verbegt. Other beer lovers did have an opportunity to put their money where their mouth is: funding for the project was generated by sponsorships offering a lifetime supply of beer. "Attracted by the liquid returns, brew-lovers sank some €300,000 into the project."

According to the article, the Bruges beer pipeline is not entirely without precedent.

A few European sports arenas have aboveground pipelines. In Randers, Denmark, a pipeline under a street carries beer to some bars. The annual Oktoberfest beer festival in Munich, Germany, pipes beer to some tents. In Cleveland, Ohio, the Great Lakes Brewing Company moves beer through a pipe from its brewery to a bar across the street.