Anyone for Instant Beer? Just Add Water

Instant foods have their time and place. When on the run or when in need of a quick, convenient food fix, instant foods make life simple and require no skill whatsoever. You just add water, mix or shake, and presto- a meal is born, ready for immediate consumption.

Beverages come instant form as well, but they have generally remained limited to a few categories like tea and fruit- flavored concoctions. But now, a beverage company in Alaska has invented something novel that just might catch on: Instant beer in concentrated, powdered form. Pat’s Backcountry Beverages has created the product and, pending its patent approval, it will become the first commercially available dry beer in a box.

How does Pat’s Backcountry Beverages produce instant beer? Well, according to the company web site, it isn’t created like other instant foods or drinks. Other products start with the actual food or beverage, then remove the water. Pat’s process is different. The beer is made with almost no water using Pat’s special Hybrid Brewing Technology process. It allows the fermentation to take place while keeping the product almost completely dry. All the consumer has to do is pour the powder into one of Pat’s Backcountry Beverage carbonating cups, add water, and enjoy.

There is no word on the alcoholic strength of this beer or evaluation of taste or quality, but it does seem like an idea that could resonate well with certain people. No one wants to carry around a bunch of heavy cans or bottles of beer while hiking. A loaded backpack is already more than enough to test the limits of one’s endurance and no one wants to add additional weight. With Pat’s Backcountry Beverage beer in a bag, one can easily transport beer in powdered form with little or no strain. Of course, you could take your hike and leave the beer behind, but that would be like Thanksgiving Day without turkey: Incomplete, less rounded, and ultimately disappointing.

Having to lug around adequate water and Pat’s own carbonation cup could defeat the supposed space- and- weight- saving qualities of this product and if it is anything like other instant beverages, it could be very lacking in the taste department. But nonetheless, I tip my backpack to Pat’s Backcountry Beverages for coming up with the idea. If the patent is approved and the product takes off, it could mark the beginning of a whole new era in freeze dried, concentrated, or otherwise waterless versions of your favorite adult beverages.