Dairy Beer Could Open Up An Entirely New Market

This Beer Is Brewed With Dairy Waste And It’s Pretty Damn Cool

By Emily Abrams ‧ Updated 08/08/2018 ‧ Eat /

Unsplash

It’s amazing we live in a world that’s so advanced that we can turn trash into treasure. Focused on reducing food waste, Cornell professor Sam Alcaine created a sustainable beer made from leftover acid whey, which is a byproduct of New York’s Greek yogurt industry. This leftover acid whey hasn’t had too much of a purpose up until now.

This fermented dairy drink is brewed similarly to traditional beer and provides a solution to New York’s dairy waste problem. There’s a good chance you’ll see this dairy-based alcohol hit taps within the next few years.

With a relatively low ABV of 2.7 percent, the acid whey beer is sour and salty. The sustainable beer will potentially be colored with extracts derived from fruit and other natural ingredients.

While researchers are still developing this concept, the idea of using barley for the fermentation process has been suggested as a potential new method. In addition, certain factors like the specific breed of the cow that’s producing the milk could influence the beer’s flavor.

A post shared by Cornell University CALS (@cornelluniversitycals) on Apr 7, 2018 at 7:50am PDT

Turning whey into an alcoholic beverage could open up an entirely new market within the craft beer industry. With innovative beers ranging from THC-infused beer to French Toast Crunch beer to seaweed beer to probiotic beer to toilet water beer, we’re not even remotely weirded out by the concept of alcohol made from dairy waste.

Plus, we’re on board with any efforts to reduce food waste. If we get buzzed in the process, why not?

Ocean To Tap: Seaweed Beer Is A Thing And It’s Sustainable

Probiotic Beer Is A Thing. Here’s The Deal