Leave it to an Alaskan to invent a new way to drink alcohol outdoors: Pat Tatera, founder of Pat’s Backcountry Beverages, devised and developed a system for carrying concentrated forms of both alcohol and soda into the wild that makes carbonated beverages in minutes with the help of stream water and small carbonation packages. Tatera touts the system as “the most environmentally, socially and sustainably responsible carbonated beverage system on earth”, which makes it an easy choice for hikers and campers who don’t want nature to get in the way of their drinking, but don’t want their drinking to get in nature’s way, either.
The beverage system ($50 for the starter kit) is shockingly simple. It’s a hard plastic water bottle ($40) with only minor adaptations, meant to be used during the day to rehydrate hikers before they imbibe at night, saving them from carrying separate containers. In its most basic form, making a beverage requires the drinker to combine purified water (iodine purification system not included) and a pouch of brew concentrate ($10 for a 4-pack) in the 16-ounce bottle, add a packet of potassium bicarbonate and citric acid for carbonation, and shake it side to side. Voila: you now have either Pale Rail “beer”, Black Hops “beer” or one of five different sugary sodas (“brew concentrate”).
The problem is that after diluting the pouch in water…after pumping water into the cap to pre-mix with the carbonation powder in the carbonation chamber…after shaking from side to side for two minutes…after allowing it to rest for another minute…and after pouring the resulting beverage into your camp mug…the “beer” just isn’t good. The end product tastes no doubt like beer, but includes a sour, unintended funkiness and bitter aftertaste from the carbonate mix — and you have to drink it quickly, before it loses its carbonation after a few minutes… CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL STORY AT GEAR PATROL
