CARLISLE, Pa. - At Molly Pitcher Brewing Company and throughout the borough, the unintentional Valentine's Day surprise of pink tap water came a few days late.
“That could have been perfect if we did this a month ago for Valentine's Day, it would have been great,” Cassie Fourlas, a manager at Molly Pitcher Brewing Company, said.
Residents and businesses complained of pink water as early as Wednesday.
“We were contacted today saying that we probably should hold off on any brewing, because of the fact that the water has high levels of the chemical,” Fourlas said.
It was needed because of excess storm runoff in the Conodoguinet creek. The borough added potassium permanganate to remove excess iron and manganese in the water. In a memo to residents on its website, the borough insisted the water was still safe to drink but looking a bit blush.
“It's safe to use, but may taint our product,” Fourlas said. “The yeast was the biggest thing. The yeast would not react the same way we're used to it reacting when brewing.”
The water looked back to normal when Fourlas turned on the faucet tonight, but the brewery says it probably won't be brewing any beer for the next few days. Thankfully for beer lovers, Molly Pitcher Brewing Company says it still has plenty of suds available for customers.
“If this would happen again, like putting our brew schedule back definitely creates a problem because it's very scientific with the brewing process so those couple hours getting pushed back can really change our whole production schedule,” she said.
While most residents here in Carlisle are seeing their water return to normal, the borough says there could be some pink left in it at least through Friday.