~ A mix of leaves, twigs, branches and kulms boiled in water resulted in a healthy drink – the bamboo tea, or green tea, as most people know. But the enterprising Filipino farmer had his sights on another by-product, reputedly the very first in North America at least, and possibly the world – the bamboo beer. Yes, the brew got raves in market and taste tests and in the lab to merit a double
A rating from the Liquor Control Board of Ontario. The rating means the bamboo beer is a premium beer. So convincing was the outcome that the brains behind the beer – Vincent Villanis – got his manufacturer’s licence to become the first Filipino licensed brewer in Canada.
TORONTO – A 28-year-old bamboo farmer became the first Filipino licensed brewer in Canada after he developed what’s reputedly North America’s, or possibly the world’s, first bamboo beer.
Vincent Villanis, originally from Sta. Rita, Pampanga, has been granted a manufacturer’s licence by the Liquor Control Board of Ontario to market his product. The LCBO gave it an “AA” which means it’s rated as “premium beer”.
The brew will be known officially as “Bamboo Beer” or “Kawayan Beer” to Filipinos and will be priced like other beers in the market. (Videos of my interview at: 1. Hail the Bamboo Beer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1yva_jrMIc&list=UL ;; 2. Bamboo Beer – A Filipino Breakthrough: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoZ-nJecPWk&list=UL ; Bamboo Beer Gets Double Rating: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfP6VK65nhU&list=UL).
Villanis owns a bamboo grove in St. Catharines and a bamboo farm in Grimsby, the two towns that adjoin each other in Southern Ontario, about an hour’s drive from Toronto. It’s from the farm where he harvests bamboo for beer brewing.
Farmers have been cynical about growing bamboo in Ontario because of weather conditions but Villanis, who has been using bamboo for landscaping in his house construction business, thought otherwise, persisted and discovered the specie suitable for the province.
Later, spurred by a statement of Doug Finley, then number-two man of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, that “bamboo is the next Microsoft of the business world,” Villanis went into research that unraveled the big potential of the bamboo.
Bamboo, which belongs to the grass family, possesses 30 nutrients ranging from anti-oxidants to silica and to protein fibers, according to documented studies.
“The nutrients are spread out, from the bamboo shoots to the leaves as well as to the kulms and the twigs,” explains Villanis in an interview at his residence in the wine-producing town of Stoney Creek.”It’s a matter of using our technology to extract the nutrients.”
The extraction process also leads Villanis to develop a recipe for bamboo sports drinks which would be commercialized in partnership with the University of Guelph.
He is planning to bring his technology to developing countries to extract nutrients from bamboo and turn them into beverages.
From the mix of leaves, twigs, branches and kulms, Villanis could produce bamboo tea, more popularly known as green tea.
“Bamboo tea is considered one of the healthiest in the world. That’s what we discovered,” states Villanis. But it wasn’t tea that he was interested in.
From tea, Villanis reveals, “we developed the bamboo beer”.
“Bamboo beer is our niche. No one has that in Canada or in North America,” he says.
The brew was initially introduced to a focus group to determine how it would be accepted. “The reaction was exciting for us,” Villanis recalls, “because the taste was so much better than all the other beers”. After that, the brew went another round of taste test.
At a Father’s Day event, the sponsors had run out of beers. “What’s amazing about that . . . that was another milestone and another testament for us because it was the first time in 20 years that they run out of this particular beer. There’s eight different beer products there and they just keep coming back for bamboo beer; it tastes good so they just keep on coming for a refill”.
The two kegs that Villanis brought also run out soon afterwards. “So at that event, it solidified our decision to develop this product to the market,” Villanis says. From that experience, he went to LCBO and did a presentation.
“When we tested the beer (at LCBO), it was considered double A grading, so it’s a premium beer and we call it ‘beer with benefits’,” Villanis explains.
“Technically, in advertising we can’t tell consumers that this beer is healthy. However, because the bamboo is inside the beer, it makes this beer healthy,” he says.
“It’s ironic that the Philippines is being plagued with that disease – high cholesterol – and here’s a Filipino product that would lower that. And I’m not encouraging people to binge-drink beer because it’s healthy but it’s a substitute,” Villanis stresses.
“If you’re going to drink beer anyways, you might as well drink beer that tastes better and that’s close to our culture,” he adds.
Villanis said he has two recipes for the bamboo beer; one is an ale and another is the lager.
“We’re going to launch first the bamboo ale and it’s a dark beer,” he says. “But because bamboo is incorporated in it, it actually balances the bitterness of the beer so it makes it really refreshing.”
Bamboo Beer, the Beer with Benefits, will soon be available in the market.****