I was surfing through Facebook the other day, when a post from one of my favorite shows
"Drinking Made Easy" (if you haven't seen this show, its on Mark Cubans's "AXS" Channel, it stars Zane Lamprey travailing to different cities to explore the local drinking culture. Its a bit "frat boy-ish" but still has a lot of interesting info, and is pretty funny, check it out if you get a chance) had a post that caught my attention. The article is titled
"On the Go Powdered Beer" My first thought was "no way, this can't be what it sounds like!" Well, to my horror, it was.
A company called
"Pat's Backcountry Beverages" has developed this abomination, that when you mix the "beer" powder, with water, and a portable carbonation system, creates a drink "comparable to a micro brew with all the taste, alcohol, carbonation, and aroma we love." Really???
Called "Hybrid Brewing Technology" or HBT, the company also produces powdered wine, and soda drinks. They don't say or explain much about the technology used to produce this, not that I would understand it anyway, but it is still an interesting product none the less.
This will most certainly be marketed to hikers, and bikers, and hipsters more interested in looking cool, and having all the stuff the rest of us less enlightened folks don't have. This to me however is a lot like tofu bacon. If you want bacon, eat bacon, if you want to be a vegetarian, then give up wanting to eat bacon. Same thing is at play here, if you want a beer while hiking, or biking, or reading "The Odyssey" in public for people to see how intellectual you are, get a can, or a sippy cup for god's sake, but please don't bastardize a wonderful beverage like this! Then again, this is to be expected, with the emergence of "beers" like Michelob Ultra, Bud Select 55, or Miller 64, the populous seems to getting further and further away from what beer is suppose to be, and developing an almost entirely different product, a sort of "beer flavored beverage". Opening the door for beer geeks and snobs, and providing plenty of cannon fodder for them to bitch and complain about while drinking "real" beer! Its part of the fun after all.
Regardless, I would be interested in trying this, and the technology fascinates me none the less. The company is looking for further investors to take this product nation wide, so, if you have some extra scratch, and are looking to invest in beer, this may be your chance!
If you own a 'still', then you can slowly distill off the liquid from a case (or 2, or 3 or 4) to make your own syrup/concentrate. First, because of its lower vapor pressure, the alcohol will distill. Save it, of course - duuuuhhhhh!!! The water will follow. Careful! The process must be carried out with low temp - low heat to avoid evaporating essential oils 'n essences. So come on, you moonshiners, use a little finesse. Once you're down to the syrup or the concentrate, U R N business. Carrying the equivalent of 3-4 cases of brew in your backpack will only occupy a small compartment - well worth the backpack real estate, I can assure you. Don't forget your home made ever-clear. Adding roughly 0.6oz of ethyl alcohol to a 12oz bottle of your concentrate 'n rehydrating will get you part way there. All you need is your trusty FiZZ GiZ to add the bubbles for your sudsy treat. Find the details at http://www.fizzgiz.com for a hand-held portable carbonation tool the size 'n shape of a banana that weighs 3.2-ounces. The FiZZ GiZ carbonator uses 16g beverage grade co2 cartridges. A single bulb will adequately carbonate 4-liters of suds. So, carry on camper community. Don't go 'round thirsty.
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