River in Hawaii that smells like beer discovered to be alcoholic

Brewery the centre of investigations into ‘reeking’ stream off H2 highway on Oahu

Residents of a town in Hawaii alerted authorities to a river that allegedly smelled like beer, and turned out to be 1.2 per cent alcoholic after testing.

The stream, which flows into a creek in Waipio, Hawaii, on the island of Oahu, was smelling so alcoholic that “you would think it was a beer pub that hadn’t opened its doors for three or four days,” a visitor told News Now Hawaii.

Another visitor who was hiking around Diamond Head last week, not far from the H2 interstate highway and Ka Uka Boulevard, agreed that it “reeked”.

An independent laboratory found that almost 1.2 per cent of the water was alcoholic, and as reported by News Now Hawaii, almost 0.4 per cent of the water was sugar – an ingredient for beer.

The area around Diamond Head is fairly industrial and home to a number of businesses such as Paradise Beverages, who make well known beers for brands Kohola Brewery and Aloha Beer Company.

The company told News Now Hawaii that it was unsure what was causing the alcoholic spillage, although Hawaii’s departments of health and transportation later confirmed what was at fault.

“Right now, we’ve had the Department of Transportation come in with their representatives and we’re dealing with them and we’ve also been contacted by the Department of Health,” said Anthony Rowe, the director of operations for Paradise Beverages.

Both Hawaii’s health and transport departments aided an investigation that found alcohol in contaminated runoff water from a pipe not far from the H2 interstate.

The stream was on the opposite side of the H2 interstate and flowed down into a creek, with a drop of about 100ft.

The transport department, which owns the pipe, informed the Hawaii health department that it was Paradise Beverages that had been at fault, News Now Hawaii reported.

The Independent has approached the company for comment.

It remains unknown if action will be taken for the alcohol content found in the stream, which many on social media pointed out was a quarter of the percentage of a Coors or Budweiser.