There’s a blue beer making waves in France and you’ve got to hear about it – it has algae in it!
The Hoppy Urban Brew, a craft brewery based in Roubaix, France is turning their beer blue using algae with a naturally-occurring pigment. The beer emerged from a collaboration between the brewery and a firm called Etika Spirulina. The firm promotes algae as a dietary supplement and the brewery wanted to make their drinks more unique.
Etika Spirulina, a company in northern France, cultivates the algae Spirulina. A particular component in the spirulina known as phycocyanin is what gives the beer its trademark blue colour. The component is added during the brewing process.
The process to come to the blend of spirulina that would work just right for the beer was an intensive one too. The company and brewers met over two years ago, which is when they started working on testing different spirulina, till they finally came to the batch with the right colour and taste. They wanted to make sure they avoided the usual green of raw spirulina and get the stunning blue that they do now.
This unique beer is said to have a light and hoppy flavour with lingering notes of fruit on the tongue, and no real taste to the added algae at all.
This sessions IPA named ‘Line’ with a 3% ABV has already sold 1500 bottles of the blue beer last year between the months of October and December alone!
They’re planning to increase production to meet the growing popularity of the beer and we can’t wait to see what’s next in store for them.
A dietary supplement and a beer in one? Where do we sign up?
