A turn of a tap on Friday set into operation what’s been called the world’s first beer pipeline. Crowdfunded to the tune of about €4 million, the 3-km pipeline carries 4,000 liters (about 12,000 bottles) per hour from the De Halve Maan (The Half Moon) brewery in the center of Bruges to a bottling plant on the outskirts.

As reported at eruonews, “It is one pipe dream that has very much become reality.”

The New York Times quotes Xavier Vanneste, the director of the brewery, as saying, “As far as we know, this is the first time ever that such a thing has been done. It is an old product, but an innovative project.”

He added that the city’s narrow streets and influx of 2 million tourists annually made delivery of the beer by tanker truck tedious and expensive, potentially forcing the 500-year-old brewery out of its home. Bruges is a medieval city and UNESCO World Heritage site.

The pipeline will eliminate hundreds of tanker truck trips per year, according to euronews. Renaat Landuyt, Mayor of Bruges, said the project also eliminates the risk to the historical buildings and streets that the tanker trucks could pose.

As for funding, Vanneste turned to the Internet, the Times reports. More than 500 backers will be rewarded “with beer for life, in proportion to their contribution.”

Vanneste explains that the idea that the pipeline might be feasible came through observations of and discussions with construction workers, as he explains in a Times video.