Pipeline of the Day: This Beer Pipeline in Bruges Is A Pipeline for Public Good

Now this is a pipeline worth fighting for.

As oil pipelines threaten the drinking water and land of the Native Americans here in the states, pipelines in Belgium are threatening sobriety. The world’s first legal beer pipeline in Bruges, Belgium carries 1,000 gallons, the equivalent of 12,000 bottles, of beer an hour from the brewery to the bottling planet two miles away.

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This is not the first beer pipeline. There was at least one illegal one operating during Prohibition, in which a 6,000-foot hose was found under the streets of Yonkers, NY in 1930.

This perfectly legal pipeline, however, starts at Halve Maan beer brewery, one of the country’s oldest. It opened in 1856, and thanks to a crowdfunded campaign, the brewery was launched into the 21st century with a brand-new beer pipeline.

According to Atlas Obscura, “The 500+ donors received a priceless thank you gift: free beer for life. Today, visitors can glimpse a section of the pipeline through a transparent manhole cover cut into the cobblestone street.”