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08-03-2012, 06:33
Visit the Pencil & Spoon site (http://www.pencilandspoon.com/2012/03/beer-flavour-drink.html)
Hi Mark,
I am wonderingif you would be interested in sampling a non-alcoholic beer flavour soft drink?
That’show the email started. It also included a picture of the product.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3IxTk3ehmU8/T1hbIAvSZjI/AAAAAAAAB-8/3t_KUmY3G9E/s320/Equator+Bottle.JPG (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3IxTk3ehmU8/T1hbIAvSZjI/AAAAAAAAB-8/3t_KUmY3G9E/s1600/Equator+Bottle.JPG)
Myreply was simple: It sounds terrible butI won’t judge it until I’ve tried it.
Equator (http://www.beverage-brands.co.uk/brands/equator.asp)is made by Beverage Brands who produce WKD (http://www.beverage-brands.co.uk/brands/default.asp). It contains 0.00% alcohol, 0 caloriesand 0% sugar. The ingredients include ‘Barley Malt Extract’ and ‘Iso HopExtract’ plus colour, flavouring and sweetener. It is a beer flavoured drink, an alternative soft drink or something for the health-conscious, perhaps. What they've done is attempt to create a beer flavour drink, minus booze and calories, in a lab.
But,like I told the guy from the PR agency, I wouldn’t judge until I’ve tasted, soI opened a bottle.
Thefirst surprise is the tinge of electric-green in the colour, kind of like it’sgoing radioactive. Given the makers of the drink and their use of bold colours,I guess it’s understandable that creating a subtle gold would be difficult,like asking cage fighter to pirouette. You get good foam to begin but thatdoesn’t last long and then it looks dead. Next is the smell: it’s like lime andsoda mixed with Shloer (http://www.beverage-brands.co.uk/brands/shloer.asp), which is another Beverage Brands drink. Then taste:very thin, like soda water, then the faintest hint of the shandy you used to beable to buy in cans from the corner shop, which is soon replaced by nothing. Itdoesn’t taste like beer and there’s this weird almost-lime thing going on, likethey’ve tried to mimic the dregs of a bottle of Corona. It’s not very nice.
Ican’t ever see a time when I’d order an Equator. And I don’t really see the gapin the market for a beer which tries to taste like beer but isn’t beer. Itmight sell millions and then I’ll look like a dick, but it’s not something I’llbuy. The best thing about it is the name: at 0.00%, Equator works well...
Thereare some decent alcohol-free beers on the market, especially some of the wheatbeers. But they are made like beer - they are brewed - with the ingredients ofbeer, not replicated in the factory. It does leave me wondering if you couldmake a great-tasting beer in a laboratory from the ingredients of beer, perhapsa big IPA with loads of malt extract, big iso C-hop additions and booze blendedwith carbonated water... That’s something I’d love to try.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8717216232742676074-4958601944835990388?l=www.pencilandspoon.com
More... (http://www.pencilandspoon.com/2012/03/beer-flavour-drink.html)
Hi Mark,
I am wonderingif you would be interested in sampling a non-alcoholic beer flavour soft drink?
That’show the email started. It also included a picture of the product.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3IxTk3ehmU8/T1hbIAvSZjI/AAAAAAAAB-8/3t_KUmY3G9E/s320/Equator+Bottle.JPG (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3IxTk3ehmU8/T1hbIAvSZjI/AAAAAAAAB-8/3t_KUmY3G9E/s1600/Equator+Bottle.JPG)
Myreply was simple: It sounds terrible butI won’t judge it until I’ve tried it.
Equator (http://www.beverage-brands.co.uk/brands/equator.asp)is made by Beverage Brands who produce WKD (http://www.beverage-brands.co.uk/brands/default.asp). It contains 0.00% alcohol, 0 caloriesand 0% sugar. The ingredients include ‘Barley Malt Extract’ and ‘Iso HopExtract’ plus colour, flavouring and sweetener. It is a beer flavoured drink, an alternative soft drink or something for the health-conscious, perhaps. What they've done is attempt to create a beer flavour drink, minus booze and calories, in a lab.
But,like I told the guy from the PR agency, I wouldn’t judge until I’ve tasted, soI opened a bottle.
Thefirst surprise is the tinge of electric-green in the colour, kind of like it’sgoing radioactive. Given the makers of the drink and their use of bold colours,I guess it’s understandable that creating a subtle gold would be difficult,like asking cage fighter to pirouette. You get good foam to begin but thatdoesn’t last long and then it looks dead. Next is the smell: it’s like lime andsoda mixed with Shloer (http://www.beverage-brands.co.uk/brands/shloer.asp), which is another Beverage Brands drink. Then taste:very thin, like soda water, then the faintest hint of the shandy you used to beable to buy in cans from the corner shop, which is soon replaced by nothing. Itdoesn’t taste like beer and there’s this weird almost-lime thing going on, likethey’ve tried to mimic the dregs of a bottle of Corona. It’s not very nice.
Ican’t ever see a time when I’d order an Equator. And I don’t really see the gapin the market for a beer which tries to taste like beer but isn’t beer. Itmight sell millions and then I’ll look like a dick, but it’s not something I’llbuy. The best thing about it is the name: at 0.00%, Equator works well...
Thereare some decent alcohol-free beers on the market, especially some of the wheatbeers. But they are made like beer - they are brewed - with the ingredients ofbeer, not replicated in the factory. It does leave me wondering if you couldmake a great-tasting beer in a laboratory from the ingredients of beer, perhapsa big IPA with loads of malt extract, big iso C-hop additions and booze blendedwith carbonated water... That’s something I’d love to try.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8717216232742676074-4958601944835990388?l=www.pencilandspoon.com
More... (http://www.pencilandspoon.com/2012/03/beer-flavour-drink.html)