Introduction:
I must admit that I am partial to beer. However, unlike is the case with coffee, the other beverage to which I am partial, I am generally only able to drink beer in the late afternoon or early evening. This is because the alcohol within it negatively affects my ability to work and drive.

Fact one:
Non-alcoholic beer is good in theory, but the taste of the alcohol is actually a very important part of the taste of beer.

Fact two:
ADH (Alcohol Dehydrogenase) is a group of enzymes capable of breaking down alcohol. The enzymes are found within the liver and are what strip out the alcohol which would otherwise be a persistent toxin.

Idea:
Under pressure, a few ADH packed microbeads are placed within beer. As soon as the beer is opened, the pressure drop causes rupture of the minute beads, and ADH mixes into the beer and starts removing the alcohol. Before much damage is done to the alcohol, the beer is consumed and enjoyed. The ADH then continues to break down the alcohol, leading to very little of the alcohol ever even making it to the blood stream.

Summary:
ADH released into beer at the time of consumption will decrease the alcohol which reaches the blood stream without decreasing the taste. Beer can be safely drunk at breakfast.
-- vincevincevince, Jan 22 2008

Sherry enema http://uk.reuters.c...UKN0325982220071003
Damn-fool way to commit suicide.... [8th of 7, Jan 22 2008]

Is that what the Tri-lams gave Takashi when he beat the Alpha Betas in the tricycle race?
-- leinypoo13, Jan 22 2008


[+] ADH seems to be exactly the chemical I am seeking. Is it viable when injected to te bloodstream?
-- sprogga, Jan 22 2008


You'll end up with ketones in the beer, which will make it taste very strange, but maybe like one of those Belgian ones.
-- nineteenthly, Jan 22 2008


//ketones in beer// true, but as the ADH is released only upon depressurisation and takes time to act, I hope that these will be minimal
-- vincevincevince, Jan 22 2008


I can't think there would be a problem unless there's a toxic effect on the GIT wall, because there wouldn't be any more of them than you'd get from drinking the equivalent alcohol. Unless you held it in your mouth or took it as an enema.
-- nineteenthly, Jan 22 2008


// took it as an enema. //

Sherry enemas can have fatal consequences <link>. That's actually a fact we wish we'd never found out about.
-- 8th of 7, Jan 22 2008


They can indeed, but that's with ethanol or anything else which would be too high a dose without the first-pass effect. I don't know if it would apply to ketones.
-- nineteenthly, Jan 22 2008


This will fail in no less than three ways.

First, enzymes won't generally work in the wrong environment, and cold beer is probably not the right environment. They'd probably prefer something closer to 37°C, with a pH around 7.5 (not sure of the pH of beer, but I'm guessing quite low), and with a collection of nice salts and buffers. It's quite likely, in fact, the enzyme will denature in beer.

Second, ADH needs NAD as a cofactor. OK, you might be able to package that with the ADH, but I wouln't count on its (or the enzyme's) being stable over prolong storage.

Third, when the beer hits your stomach, the ADH is going to die screaming at pH2 or thereabouts.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 22 2008


oh, MB, let them have their misconceptions, we don't all need to have a basic understanding of biology.
-- WcW, Mar 13 2009


The NAD is also consumed (converted to NADH), so you would need to supply a lot of it, or enable further chemistry to oxidise and recycle the NADH back to NAD.
-- spidermother, Mar 14 2009



random, halfbakery