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A hiker in Hawaii made a strange discovery while exploring a wooded area in a gulch about 120 feet below a busy highway. He noticed a pungent stench of beer and traced it to a small stream flowing through the woods.
The hiker contacted Carroll Cox, a local environmental activist, who went to investigate the stream.
"The other day we came here, you would think it was a beer pub that hadn't opened its doors for three or four days," he told Hawaii News Now.
The news station took a sample of the water and sent it to a lab for testing. The test found that the water contained nearly 1.2% alcohol and 0.4% sugar.
Cox reached out to the Department of Health about the issue. The agency, along with the Department of Transportation, traced the problem to a storm drain near Paradise Beverages, one of the largest brewers in Hawaii. The company said it has no idea what caused the spill since there has not been any rain in the past few days.
Officials did not provide details about the cause of the spill and would not say Paradise Beverages would be fined for the spill.
While the spill has been stopped, Cox is frustrated because this isn't the first time something like this has happened.
"[There's a] lack of respect for the land and the water, even though we preach it. We don't practice what we preach," he told the Washington Post.