News + Trends
Hoodies: get covered up!
by Dominik Bärlocher
Joybräu: Protein beer in a taste test
3.12.2018
Science was probably so busy wondering whether it could that it forgot to ask whether it should. We tested the protein beer from Joybräu.
Actually, I should have known.
Joybräu promises a lot. It's finally a beer for athletes. I am a sportsman. And I like beer. Has the world actually invented something for me for once? Me, the guy who can neither do anything with fashion nor cook.
But as a weightlifter, that's just life: You eat something, food is more fuel than pleasure and for every beer I have to justify myself somehow, if only to myself. Admittedly, after the third beer, the justification is over, but you get the idea. Joybräu puts an end to that. For all athletes, not just me.
That's why I was happy. But then again: I really should have known.
Joybräu sounds like the perfect drink
I have very few demands when it comes to the fuel I put in my body. It has to more or less fulfil certain criteria - especially when it's competition or cut season. Then I eat it and that's that.
- Lots of protein
- Low carbohydrates, although exceptions are made here during the competition season depending on the time
- Calories are counted and are within a predetermined range
- No fennel
This is where the fortunately fenceless Joybräu comes in. Branded as a "protein beer", the swill boasts that it packs pretty much everything you need as an athlete before, during and after training in an amber glass bottle
.
- 21 grams of protein
- 10 grams of BCAA, including L-Carnitine and L-Arginine
- 135 calories
Also the warning that you should not drink more than three of these bottles per day. If only because of the price, because at plus minus five cent per bottle, the brew from Germany is not exactly cheap.
But now: how does the stuff taste?
With three bottles and a flyer with a cartoon gorilla on it, I make my way to the food editor Simon Balissat's desk. One for him, one for me and one for video producer Stephanie Tresch. A gourmet expert, a weightlifter and a boxer.
In front of Migros and on the Limmat, we open the bottles with a lighter. Who has a bottle opener at the ready?
The first sip is okay. A bit flat in flavour. Where is the flavour of beer? The sweetness is there, but the bitterness of a beer - the thing that makes a beer good - is missing. Still? One more sip.
"Do you know Bilz? It tastes about the same, just that Bilz has more lemon flavour," says Simon.
But instead of lemon flavour, there's an artificial sweetness. I know why it's there: the BCAA. Because the stuff tastes mangy even under the best of circumstances. They even taste quite good in the Nocco brand of sports drinks. Otherwise, BCAA supplements are usually bitter and leave you feeling like you have a film on your tongue. Yikes
.
"That's not beer," says Stephanie.
The hoppy flavour is completely absent, as is the alcohol. That's a problem. As an athlete, being alcohol-free is great, but as a beer fan, not really. Why did they do that at Joybräu?
And who was daft enough to give them awards for their semi-shitty swill? Or attention in the media? Answer: The fitness trade fair Fibo, the Business Insider, the magazine Fit For Fun, which even awarded the protein beer 4.5 out of 5 stars, and the German strongman Tim "Tetzel" Schmidt.
Als Erfrischung im Sommer ist es sicherlich geeignet. Echte Bierfans werden aber enttäuscht sein, denn mit einem herben Weizen hat das Proteinbier nur wenig gemeinsam.
We agree: Joybräu is a flop, but the idea is a good one. Maybe something will come of Joybräu 2.0. But the first version with the more or less hideous cartoon gorilla is definitely more hideous than less.
I'll stick with the real beer, even if I have to justify myself through the first two rounds.
Also, while we're on the subject of beer: Schüga, you wankers! Cheers
Journalist. Author. Hacker. A storyteller searching for boundaries, secrets and taboos – putting the world to paper. Not because I can but because I can’t not.
Sport
Follow topics and stay updated on your areas of interest
Cooking
Follow topics and stay updated on your areas of interest
Home + Kitchen
Follow topics and stay updated on your areas of interest
Food
Follow topics and stay updated on your areas of interest
3 comments
later