The University of Copenhagen invented a new brand of the world's most popular alcoholic drink. To do this, researchers came up with a method for producing natural high-value isoprenoids. Non-alcoholic beer is insipid because it lacks the aroma of hops. The absence of smell results in heating regular beer and minimising fermentation. EvodiaBio, the most recent start-up admitted into Copenhagen’s BioInnovation Institute Venture Lab programme, found a way to keep the hop aroma and make beer without alcohol.
According to their report, they add monoterpenoids at the end of brewing to give the beer its lost taste. Scientists say that no one has done this before.
Instead of adding aroma hops only to "remove" their aroma at the end of the process, the researchers turned baker's yeast cells into "microfactories" that can be grown in fermenters and release the heady hop aroma.
When the aroma molecules are released from the yeast and added to the drink, they restore the taste nature truly intended it to have. This makes the use of hops in brewing redundant, since only the molecules that convey flavour and aroma are needed from the plant.
Hops use up a lot of energy because they need to be transported in refrigerated vans over long distances and, once at their destination, they need a lot of water for their cultivation - 2.7 tonnes per kilogram. This new method eliminates the use of water and transportation, which is much more environmentally friendly.
The method is now being tested in breweries in Denmark, and is scheduled to be rolled out to the entire brewing industry in October 2022.