Japanese scientists make alcohol from wood

Researchers at Japan’s Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute have developed an alcoholic beverage made from tree bark, the institute says the beverage resembles the qualities of an alcohol aged in wooden barrels.

The  alcohol is made by pulverising wood into a creamy paste and then adding yeast and an enzyme to start the fermentation process, when complete the alcohol is 15% abv, according to Tokyo’s Straits Times.

By avoiding using heat, researchers say they are able to preserve the specific flavour of each tree’s wood, and have already produced variants from trees including cedar, birch and cherry.

Having experimented with both brewed and distilled versions of the alcohol, the team said that the alcohol presents better as a distilled beverage, with 4kg of cedar wood producing around 3.8 litres of liquid.

The government institute aims to commercialise the product with a private-sector partner and have the liquor on shelves within three years.

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