Powdered Beer

What Will They Think Of Next?

                   American Brewers’ Review    1899

                             POWDERED BEER

It is reported in the Riga Industrie Zeitung that a beer powder is prepared by evaporating beer.  For use, 5.8 parts of the powder are dissolved in 100 parts of water, mixed with 7 – 9 % of alcohol, and carbonated.  It is stated that this powder is to be shipped to tropical countries accompanied by cylinders of liquefied carbonic acid.

As of 2013 –

Pat’s Backcountry Beverages, an Alaskan based company, now offers concentrated beer along with powdered soft drinks for campers, hikers, mountain climbers, and others who want a beer but don’t want to haul the extra weight.  The powdered drinks don’t seem to be any more innovative than Kool-Aid but they do offer the same carbonation trick used with their concentrated syrup beer.  A special plastic pressure rated bottle is part of the deal.  You pour COLD water into the bottle, followed by the concentrated beer, and then pour in the activator which comes in an envelope like a sugar pack.  The activator is sodium bicarbonate and citric acid which anyone who actually passed chemistry class in High School knows will fizz by producing CO₂ gas.  The lid is sealed and the assembly shaken to mix. 

At $2.50 to $3 per pint, it might make more sense to hire an extra Sherpa just to carry beer to the base camp; for that next assault on Everest.