Instant Beer?

The increasing availability of canned craft beer is a boon for those wanting to enjoy their favorite beer in the great outdoors. Cans are lighter to carry than bottles and much more durable. Now the folks at Pat's Backcountry Beverages are claiming to make packing in your beer even more convenient with their beer concentrate.

Beer is typically about 95% water, which makes it heavy, cumbersome, and expensive to transport. But with our innovative and modern brewing process (patent pending) we can create a nearly waterless beer concentrate that contains all the great flavor, alcohol, and aroma of a premium quality micro brew. Our beer is not dehydrated beer! 

Unlike other concentrate processes, this is not just about making the beer and then "removing" the water afterwards (which is extremely energy inefficient). Instead, our process (patent pending) allows us to start with almost no water, and carefully control the environment of the fermentation. The result... concentrated beer with all the same great taste you're used to in a premium micro brew. All you do is add water, carbonate (check out our carbonator), and enjoy.

The system consists of a special carbonator bottle and cap, the "eco-activator" that produces the C0₂, and the liquid beer concentrate. The company expects to release the beer concentrate product in 2013.

The company's Facebook page has a video demonstrating the process of preparing your "instant" drink.

Will it work? What will it taste like? The website focuses on the system, which also makes sodas, rather than the actual brewing process. Admittedly, I'm skeptical that an instant drink from "beer concentrate" can stand in place of a "real" beer, but I find the concept interesting nonetheless, from a purely academic view naturally.