There are primary ingredients in beer-making: grains, hops, yeast and water (and heart?). It was a simpler time for beer, whose only job was to get you good and bussed after a long workday. Then the experimentations started. People began adding ingredients to the beer brewing process—honey, cocoa nibs, chillies, various fruits, flowers—you name it, you can brew it.
Although not everything is palatable. There’s a listicle about the weirdest ingredients in beer history. Pizza? Yeech. Bull testicles? The hell? Beard trimmings? Suddenly, bull testicles-infused beer sounds appealing.
But what about a dose of bacteria? The good kind. The ones that keep your gut healthy and hale?
That’s what Probicient is—the world’s first probiotic beer. But why has it taken this long to add good bacteria to beer? (Especially when there’s a beard beer that’s out already.) Well, pull up a table and get ready to be schooled.
Probiotification of alcoholic beverages poses a challenge as the drink already consists of other intrinsic antimicrobial compounds including ethanol, organic acids and hops; these hinder the growth and survival of probiotics. The minimum amount of colony-forming units to ensure an effective probiotic is one billion (cue Dr Evil’s appearance), so what happens when you can’t even have a singular bacteria survive the brewing process?
Enter Singapore’s own craft brewery, Brewerkz. With the injection of SGD1.5 million into R&D, a distinct pairing of unique strains and patented fermentation processes were created—and Probicient was born.
Commemorating this find, Brewerkz launched Red Billion, a probiotic raspberry sour beer with a 4.5 percent ABV (more probiotic beer flavours will follow). It’s a healthier drinking experience that doesn’t compromise the beer’s taste.
And it is infinitely waaay better than beard-infused beer.
Probicient Red Billion is available at all Brewerkz outlets.
