POWDERED beer is created by German firm – and it could slash the cost of a pint!

A German brewery is going to launch the world’s first ‘complete’ powdered beer.

East Germany’s Neuzeller Klosterbräu, which has been brewing for nearly 500 years, said it will launch the powder this year, The times reports.

The product could reduce the weight of shipments by 90 percent because there’s no need to ship it in heavy bottles or in liquid form, with the potential for cheaper delivery with a knock-on effect on the price of pints.

Stefan Fritsche, the brewery’s general manager, said Neuzeller had been developing the powder with government funding for the past two years.

The “dryest beer,” as it is called, differs from other powdered beers released in recent years in that it is carbonated and contains alcohol.

In the photo: Neuzeller Klosterbräu brewery and the beer ‘Kloster-Malz’ and ‘Schwarzer Abt’ (black abt)

“It’s the world’s first complete powdered beer and it could change the world,” Fritsche told The Times.

‘Add water and you get a beer with the full beer flavor including alcohol and carbon dioxide and a head. In principle, we can produce any beer in the world with this method: dark beer, light beer, India Pale Ale, whatever.’

Last week, the company presented an alcohol-free version of the light beer.

It said it was looking for partners to market alcohol- and non-alcoholic versions.

A reporter for the regional newspaper Märkische Oderzeitung said: “It tastes a bit malty like beer, only the alcohol is missing.”

Fritsche said inflation, the energy crisis and glass shortages, caused in part by the halting of supplies from Russia and Ukraine during the conflict, created strong arguments for powdered beer.

“There’s no point in importing glass bottles, filling them with German water and then sending the beer to Africa or China or wherever,” he said.

Brandenburg-based Neuzeller previously invented an anti-aging beer that was also launched in the United States, Poland and South Korea.

In the photo: Neuzeller Klosterbräu brewery. Stefan Fritsche, the brewery’s general manager, said Neuzeller had been developing the powder with government funding for the past two years.

The company said the beer can be used as a tonic before bathing.

Neuzeller won a legal battle to add sugar syrup to its specialty beer Schwarzer Abt (Black Abt), in violation of the national beer purity law that dates back to 1516 and states that beer can only contain water, malt, hops and yeast.

Fritsche said that powdered beer would only suit brewers supplying distant markets and Germany’s mainly small and medium-sized brewers would continue to brew and bottle conventional beer for their local consumers.

He added: ‘We also know that the classic lager drinkers and all craft beer lovers, especially in Germany, will be skeptical about our product at first.’

With the product, the company mainly focuses on overseas companies that do not need brewing knowledge, but can convert the powder into beer for their end users.