We tried beer powder from Germany… and we were SO surprised by the taste

Have you run out of breath carrying a case of beer to a party? This could soon be a thing of the past when the German brewery launches the world’s first powdered beer.

Stefan Fritsche, 56, chief executive of the Neuzeller Klosterbrauerei near Berlin, promises that all you need is some water and a spoon to mix the drink, and a “perfect” beer will be ready in just 90 seconds.

Fritsche flew to London to allow MailOnline to put his instant beer to the test and see if innovation really is ‘the future of beer’, as he claims.

But first, what is powdered beer and why should we drink it over traditional bottled beer?

‘Weird’ beers like this have always been the specialty of the small brewery, the CEO revealed.

After inventing products such as potato or asparagus beer and anti-aging and bath beer, Mr. Fritsche realized that they all had one thing in common: massive transportation costs due to the weight of glass bottles and the liquid inside.

He and the other ‘innovative troublemakers’ at the brewery in eastern Germany set out to make the ‘greenest beer around’.

It took them a year and a half and £350,000 to turn their dream into a reality.

The ‘drier beer’, as it has been called, differs from other powdered beers released in recent years in that it is carbonated and contains alcohol.

You can get the same amount of beer with just 45 grams of powder as you can with a bottled beer weighing one kilogram.

Removing 95.5 percent of the weight, the powder allows for lighter transport, as glass and water make up the bulk of the weight, about 500 grams each.

Fritsche said: ‘We’re saving water, glass and fuel, so it’s good for the environment, without compromising taste.

“We have so many opportunities with the powder in that we can do it with alcohol, without it, with carbon dioxide and without it, we can influence how much foam we want to have on top, there are endless possibilities.”

While he doesn’t yet know whether powdered beer will be cheaper than the bottled version, he said by reducing the shipping weight of the beer it is possible that once powdered production is optimised, it will cost less in pubs.

Mr. Fritsche and his brewers can pulverize any beer and want to share their knowledge with other breweries in the future, so that the CO2 emissions currently caused by the transport of beer around the world can be significantly reduced.

He said: ‘In Germany, beer production and transport account for three to five percent of total CO2 emissions. For everyone it represents half a percent.

The beer enthusiast admitted that powdered beer will taste different everywhere depending on the water used, but revealed that all the big breweries are processing the water for a more consistent flavor.

When Mr. Fritsche took over the family brewery from his father 20 years ago, he said it was important to him to “sell alcohol ethically” by not running beer ads and printing a warning label on every bottle of beer. that they sold sell.

“For us, it’s more about the taste than getting drunk,” he said.

Chris Matthews and I got a chance to try the powder when Mr. Fritsche brought an alcohol-free prototype from Berlin to London.

Setup was simple; a glass, some sparkling and still water, a blender and, most importantly, the beige powder.

As he poured water into a beer glass bearing the brewery’s logo, he revealed: “If I don’t show people how it works, nobody believes me.”

I have to admit I was skeptical at first, but my German father would never forgive me if I voluntarily forfeited the chance to try a ‘house’ beer, so I watched as Mr. Fritsche added a spoonful of powder into the glass and dipped a frother of milk in the mix.

And he was right: the liquid in the glass soon turned from a milky color to yellow and then to the typical light orange of a lager, with white foam on top.

I was surprised, it actually looked like a regular beer fresh off the tap at the pub.

The taste was pretty good too, and I could barely tell the difference between the powdered beer and a regular one. It was deliciously bitter and refreshing, even if it was a little less flat.

Looking deeply disturbed as the powder stirred in the glass, Chris said: “There was something distinctly unsettling about watching the powder swirl as it brewed, but once the beer and head had time to separate, I was a bit calmer. .

‘The beer was certainly interesting. I was hoping it would be a bit more fizzy, but to be fair, the water that was used may have gone flat.

It tasted pleasantly bitter, though it was also surprisingly smooth, which wasn’t how I thought it would feel.

“I’m not entirely convinced you’d better be served a crisp, cool lager in a pub on a summer’s day. However, it was definitely a nice experience and I’m glad I tried it.’

I’m sure that once development of the powder is complete and properly carbonated, Mr. Fritsche’s prediction could come true, that we are looking back five years and wondering why we ever carry boxes upon boxes of bottles of beer, when you could have the same experience packed into one little package.