Mr. Trash Wheel Now Has His Own Beer, Proceeds Will Help Clean The Harbor
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- The phenomenally successful machine to keep trash out of the Inner Harbor is getting an honor many dream of but few ever achieve.
Mr. Trash Wheel, the garbage-guzzling, solar-powered device that has removed more than a million tons of waste from Baltimore waterways since its launch in May 2014, will continue to scoop up cans before they hit the harbor, and now his pictured is plastered on the front of thousands of cans, as well. Beer cans.
The eureka moment came when Adam Lindquist, manager of Waterfront Partnership's Healthy Harbor Initiative, saw that the world-famous Tyrannosaurus rex fossil known as "SUE," the largest, best-preserved, and most complete T-rex fossil ever found, got her own beer in Chicago. (She lives at Chicago's Field Museum.)
Afterwards, he tweeted this from Mr. Trash Wheel's account:
Eddie O'Keefe, whose family owns Peabody Brewing near Charles Village, just so happens to be a fan of Mr. Trash Wheel's.
Before you could say "Pale Ale," O'Keefe and Lindquist connected.
The result is Mr. Trash Wheel's Lost Python Ale, named after the five-foot West African ball python that somehow made its way onto Mr. Trash Wheel in August 2015.
Fifteen thousand cans have been brewed, and a quarter is being donated for every one sold, to keep Mr. Trash Wheel doing his thing.
"I'm from Baltimore, I love Mr. Trash Wheel," O'Keefe says. "You know, Mr. Trash Wheel is such an amazing thing, because you physically see it just dumping trash out of the water."
The beer is fresh, having just been canned on Tuesday. Though unfiltered, "it is a clean beer," Lindquist says.
As if Mr. Trash Wheel would have it any other way.
They figure they'll raise about $4,000 just from the sale of the beer, but they're also hosting an Earth Day launch party at Peabody Heights Brewery Saturday. They think they'll raise another $5,000 there.
Tickets to the fundraiser are available Saturday night at the brewery for $35, the beer is available starting today at 25 local liquor stores.
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