Will beer be stirred instead of tapped in the future? A brewery in Brandenburg develops powdered beer (symbolic image). © Felix Hörhager/picture alliance/dpa/Symbolbild
A traditional brewery from Brandenburg develops a beer without alcohol and carbonic acid. The aim of the undertaking is apparently more sustainability.
Neuzelle – Will beer be stirred instead of tapped in the future? The Neuzeller monastery brewery in Brandenburg has been brewing beer for many centuries. Now the traditional company, founded in 1589, is developing a creation that could bring tears to the eyes of many a beer lover: powdered beer without alcohol and carbonic acid. What doesn't sound like a recipe for success at first glance could appeal to a specific market, the managing director believes
| Company: | Neuzeller Monastery Brewery |
| Date of foundation: | 1589 |
| Production volume per year (own data): | approx. 45,000 hectolitres of beer |
| Manager: | Helmut Fritsche & Stefan Fritsche |
With beer made from powder, brewery wants to "become the most sustainable brewery in the world"
The new creation of the Neuzeller monastery brewery is not brewed, but mixed from powder and water. Although the business idea is similar in appearance and taste to beer, it contains neither alcohol nor carbonic acid. According to the brewery, this is all about sustainability. "We want to develop the beer powder, simply because we don't want to transport it. We want to be the most sustainable brewery in the world," owner and managing director Stefan Fritsche told AFP. "If we only convey the taste, that would be perfect," according to Fritsche, they thought, which gave rise to the idea of the powder. This would save 90 percent of transport costs.
Beer without alcohol and carbon dioxide: Brewery sees millions of people as a target group
The brewery expects skeptical reactions in Germany, a country of beer drinkers. But the market for non-alcoholic beer has also grown in this country in recent years. Neuzeller also sees a sales potential of several hundred million people abroad, for example in Oman or Saudi Arabia. "You don't always have to work with alcohol," says Fritsche. In the future, however, one could imagine a version of the powdered beer with alcohol and carbonic acid, it said. The developments are said to be already underway.
In the end, it remains to be seen whether the Neuzeller monastery brewery will be allowed to market its new creation as beer, after all, the purity law applies in Germany. According to this, beer may only be made from hops, malt, yeast and water. In the past, other breweries had already made similar attempts to market powdered beer and had failed. But who knows, maybe the market is now ready for the new creation. However, it is doubtful whether the Neuzeller powder beer will make it into the list of the most popular beers in Germany in the future.
