Title: Could we name beer as superfoods?

Biography:

Pawel Mekarski has completed his MSc in Food Technology – Plant Products Specialization at the age of 25 years. His Master thesis pertained to “Comparative evaluation of chosen physicochemical properties of malts from various cereal species and attempt to use them for the production of alcohol-free malt drink”. He grew up in the countryside and from early years of life he helped his family Agri/Horticultural Business from crop to trade. Presently, he is the Brewmaster in one of Zerodegrees Microbreweries and Restaurants venues – one of pioneers of Craft Brewing in Great Britain. Before this, he worked in a few breweries in Poland to gain experience and notice differences between craft/small breweries and industry in work organization and approach to beer production.

Abstract

Majority of “superfood” exist as plant-based food. As a brewer which has studied food technology among specialization plant raw materials/products and has grown up in rural area I try to link beer to globally trend – “superfoods”. This is a big opportunity to increase awareness among people that consumption of beer in proper, moderate amounts could be health and has good impact for well-being. Main ingredients of beer are: water, malted grains, hops and yeast. But nowadays we observe that breweries add to beer fruits and plants and some of them are considered as “super-”. Next thing, there is possibility to substitute typical grains for “supergrains” in brewing process. Craft breweries should be mainly consider as producers of “superbeers” due to them flexibility in make decision process and willingness to use new ingredients. Globally Annual Growth Rates are 19.9% by 2025 for Craft Beers and 15, 7% for “superfoods” during the period 2018-2022. From these forecasts data from above, there is bright future for “superbeers” category and big opportunity for breweries, farmers, suppliers, researchers and finally consumers who could find additional value in beer.