Bear Poop Beer: Nature Calls Super Bowl Brew Stirs Controversy
A new limited-edition beer with a highly unconventional ingredient is set to launch just in time for the Super Bowl, creating both curiosity and raised eyebrows among sports fans and beverage enthusiasts alike. Nature Calls, a collaborative creation between outdoor apparel giant Columbia Sportswear and Oregon-based Breakside Brewery, incorporates bear feces collected from American black bears in Montana during its brewing process.
Unusual Brewing Process and Ingredients
The beer is brewed using Bull Run River water from Oregon that has been infused with the collected bear poop, alongside malted grains grown in the Pacific Northwest. The final product features subtle notes of honey and huckleberry, creating what the creators describe as a unique flavour profile. Despite the eyebrow-raising inclusion of animal waste, both companies have emphasised that the beer meets all safety standards and is perfectly safe for consumption.
"When we say engineered for whatever, we mean whatever," stated Joe Boyle, brand president at Columbia Sportswear, in an official press release. "Mother Nature hurls bear poop at us, we'll ferment it into a frosty pint. From the inside of a bear to your mouth — we’re making nature’s crap easier to swallow."
Launch Details and Availability
Nature Calls will make its debut on February 8 at the exclusive Super Bowl Players Tailgate event in Santa Clara, California, where the championship game between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots will be held at Levi's Stadium. Following the initial launch, the beer will also be available at select Breakside Brewery locations throughout Oregon for those seeking this unusual taste experience.
Scott Lawrence, founder of Breakside Brewery, confirmed that the brewing process adhered to the same rigorous standards applied to all their products. "We’ve brewed a lot of beers, but never one that celebrates nature this literally," Lawrence remarked. "When Columbia came to us with the idea to use bear poop, we thought they were joking. Turns out, they weren’t — and now we’ve got the wildest beer in America and maybe the world. It’s crazy, it's fun, and honestly... it tastes great."
Historical Precedent for Animal Waste Brews
Interestingly, this isn't the first instance of animal feces being incorporated into beer production. In 2021, Finnish microbrewery Ant Brew created a stout-flavoured beer using goose droppings gathered from local parks in Lahti, Finland. The company explained that the goose poop was used in a food-safe manner to smoke malt, resulting in a distinctive stout beer.
This earlier experiment was developed to celebrate Lahti's designation as the European Green Capital in 2021, promoting what the brewery described as a "wasteless circular economy." The Finnish example demonstrates that while unusual, incorporating animal waste into brewing processes has precedent within the craft beer industry's innovative approaches.
The launch of Nature Calls represents another bold step in experimental brewing, merging outdoor adventure themes with Super Bowl festivities in a way that's certain to generate conversation among both sports fans and craft beer aficionados.
