We’re told that because of food shortages, eating insects could be the secret to mankind’s future survival. So how about washing down your nutritious cockroach salad with a delicious insect-based beer?
Insect Sour (“Konchu Sour” in Japanese) is the latest bug-based drink to come out of the Far East.
There’s no attempt to disguise the drink’s creepy-crawly origins, the label features a giant picture of a giant water bug, commonly known as an “Indian toe-biter”.
The bugs, which can reach over four inches in length, are known to prey on other freshwater creatures such as other insects, fish, and small amphibians.
But they’re considered a delicacy in South and Southeast Asia and are often trapped in large numbers after being attracted by special lights.
The male Taiwanese giant water bug is particularly prized, with its sweet, almost fruity, flavour that has been compared to a good quality prawn. They're either boiled and eaten whole or used as a seasoning for soups and stews.
And now manufacturers Bugs Farm claim to have captured the unique aroma of male water bug pheromones in the beer’s bouquet. Certainly “giant water bug extract” is listed on the bottle as the drink’s main ingredient.
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The manufactures recommend you drink their 5% ABV beverage ice cold, which may serve to disguise some of its uniquely buggy flavour.
A single bottle will set you back 638 Yen, or around £4.50, you’re interested.
If a swig of Insect Sour gives you a taste for more bug-based beverages there’s also a gin distilled from essence of giant water bug.
First Essence Tagame Gin is flavoured with juniper berries and “the aromatic essence of pheromones” extracted from male water bugs.
The addition of the insect essence is said to give the drink a fruity taste, similar to apples or pears.
The fine-quality liquor is distilled in a traditional Japanese still called a kabutokama, which has been rarely used since the early 20th Century
It’ll cost you 6,000 yen, or a little over forty quid, to find out if cockroach-scented Mother’s Ruin will be your new Christmas tipple.
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