07 Jun 2016 Now you can make a beer in a SodaStream!

The Beer Bar, just launched in Germany and Switzerland, is a home beer system that allows users to quickly “brew” fresh beer at home. It’s an industry first that could revolutionise the rapidly expanding craft beer market.

Using any SodaSteam model, which quickly carbonates tap water using carbon dioxide, home brewers can concoct their own beer with a new concentrate, called Blondie – instead of adding the usual flavoured soda concentrate.

When mixed with carbonated water, Blondie produces a 4.5 percent ABV beer. One litre of Blondie yields about three litres of beer that, according to SodaStream, has a “smooth authentic taste, and a hop filled aroma”.

SodaStream spokesman, Maayan Nave, told FoxNews.com that the concentrate is produced in a brewery in Italy. It’s made in a brewing process similar to regular beer but is “made with less water and a higher alcohol by volume percentage to account for the fact that it will be diluted.”

The Blondie starter kit comes with one litre of concentrate, mixology instructions and two beer glasses. It retails for 9.99 euros and purchasers must be of legal drinking age – which is 16 in Germany – to buy the product. SodaStream units start around $80.

SodaStream’s Beer Bar will launch throughout other markets later this year, into to 2017. A US release date has not been set.

Most SodaStream models only have the ability to carbonate plain H20 but last year, the company unveiled a machine called SodaStream Mix that has the ability to carbonate anything, from cocktails to juice. A market release date for the Mix has not been set.

Other beer-making devices

• Fizzics – which claims to make bottled beer taste more like it came from the tap with sound waves – is reportedly “surprisingly effective”.
• Pat’s Backcounty Beverages has sold beer from concentrate for awhile now and has garnered some positive feedback.
• Sparkling Drink Systems – a SodaStream competitor – has a similar beer making device that uses Pat’s mixture.
• For help in automating a more authentic beer making process, check out the PicoBrew Zymatic, or the upcoming PicoBrew Pico, Brewie or ArtBrew.
• Whirlpool is even getting into the beer brewing game with a machine that helps you ferment beer called Vessi.