Belgium, the hallowed land of Trappist ales and Lambics, is witnessing an audacious leap into the future with Bar.on’s avant-garde beer printer, OneTap. This diminutive contrivance promises to revolutionize the beer industry by concocting a plethora of brews at the mere press of a button, eschewing the age-old brewing processes that have stood the test of centuries.
The OneTap’s prototype, revealed last year, is a paragon of technological prowess. It can dispense five distinct beer styles, including lager, blonde, brown, triple ales, and IPA. This futuristic device employs six cartridges brimming with natural aromas and flavors, tap water, a malt mixture, carbonation, and neutral grain spirit to fabricate a beverage that purportedly rivals traditionally brewed beer in taste and quality.
Dirk Standaert, the visionary behind Bar.on, asserts that even seasoned beer aficionados would be hard-pressed to discern the molecularly crafted beer from its traditionally brewed counterparts in a blind tasting. The audacious claim has sparked both intrigue and skepticism among the brewing cognoscenti.
The genesis of this innovation can be traced to a 2018 tome by Professor Kevin Verstrepen of Leuven University, who, along with co-author Miguel Roncoroni, delved into the molecular intricacies of hundreds of Belgian beers. Their seminal work provided the empirical foundation upon which OneTap’s flavoring cartridges were developed, aligning with Verstrepen's molecular profiles.
OneTap's modus operandi is both elegant and complex. Users can select a standard recipe or customize parameters such as bitterness and alcohol content. Standaert notes that beers with robust flavor profiles, like IPAs, are more easily replicated than more subtle styles like lager, which presents a formidable challenge due to its nuanced palate.
The company has garnered significant financial backing, securing €1.8 million in seed funding from investors such as Astanor Ventures and Exceptional Ventures. This financial infusion is earmarked for refining the OneTap prototype and scaling up for commercial release by 2025. The firm’s vision encompasses not only beer but also other beverages like kombucha and cider, demonstrating the versatile potential of this technology.
The OneTap's advent has elicited a gamut of reactions within the beer community. Luc De Raedemaeker, a luminary in Belgian beer circles and editor-in-chief of Bière Grand Cru, lauds the technical precision of OneTap’s creations, highlighting their clean and approachable nature. However, he laments the absence of the profundity and complexity that characterizes traditionally brewed beers, drawing a parallel with the sterile perfection of single-serve coffee pods versus the artisanal mastery of a seasoned barista.
Swiss beer sommelier Roland Graber echoes a more optimistic perspective, extolling the OneTap’s capacity to produce outstanding non-alcoholic beers devoid of the common pitfalls of cardboard-like flavors and poor mouthfeel. He envisions a bright future for this technology in catering to the burgeoning demand for non-alcoholic beverages, which often suffer from subpar quality in the current market.
Despite these accolades, the OneTap’s detractors argue that the machine’s reductionist approach to brewing may strip beer of its ineffable essence. Esteemed beer author Stan Hieronymus enumerates the myriad aromatic compounds in hops that contribute to beer’s rich tapestry of flavors, positing that the OneTap’s limited cartridges may struggle to encapsulate this complexity.
Furthermore, the interplay between yeast and hops, a dynamic alchemy that unfolds during fermentation, remains an enigma that the OneTap’s current iteration may not fully capture. Critics like De Raedemaeker warn that the digitalization of beer brewing could erode the human element that imbues the craft with its soul, transforming convivial beer culture into a sterile, transactional experience.
As Bar.on marches towards its 2025 commercial rollout, the brewing world stands at a crossroads, poised between venerable tradition and bold innovation. Whether the OneTap heralds a new era of customizable, on-demand brewing or merely an ephemeral novelty, its impact on the landscape of beer brewing is incontrovertible. The ultimate test lies in the hands, and palates, of beer lovers worldwide, who will determine if this digital alchemy can truly replicate the magic of their beloved brews.
