Banana beer

There are some weird documents in the Heineken archive in Amsterdam. Not just about alcohol-free beer, but also banana beer.

Heineken conducted a study into the production of banana beer. Looking into the feasibility of brewing traditional banana beer from Rwanda on a more industrial scale. This is an overview of the results.

On January 4, 1965, the Central Laboratory of the H.T.B. [Heineken Technisch Beheer] Directorate commissioned Gis to conduct a laboratory-scale study into the feasibility of producing "banana beer." The following aspects were investigated:

1. Banana ripening. This was examined on both Fijffes bananas purchased in the Netherlands and those received from Rwanda. Result: To achieve a sufficient yield of fermentable sugars, it is necessary to use ripe to overripe bananas. During ripening, the pH drops from approximately 5.8 to 5.1. The extract percentage by wet weight, excluding the peel, is approximately 20%. The peel weight represents approximately 50% of the total banana volume.

2. Preparing banana "wort." It is not possible to prepare banana "wort" with any yield without the use of pectolytic enzymes. The optimal conditions for a pure enzyme preparation and for two of the three commercially available preparations were investigated. The investigation of the effectiveness of the commercial preparations is not yet complete, but the definitive results are expected soon. It seems certain that this research will yield a useful protocol for experiments on a semi-technical scale.

3. Fermentation. Various fermentation organisms were tested side by side, including Heineken yeast, baker's yeast, yeast strains received from Rwanda, and mixtures of microorganisms isolated from locally produced banana beer. The research progressed slowly because the "beers" produced required an assessment of the Rwandan population, so each sample had to be sent to Gisenyi before new experiments could begin. This research will certainly take several more months. We do now have the analysis of a locally produced banana beer, which serves as a guideline for our production. However, an unresolved question is whether we should approximate this product as closely as possible in terms of appearance, taste, and aroma, or whether, for example, a lighter-colored and/or clearer product is preferable. Technically, a clearer product is preferable.

It will likely be possible to submit a proposal to Gis by the end of this year, which can serve as a model for semi-technical banana beer production.

A study into the possibility of producing a higher alcohol content product (banana wine) from bananas is scheduled for the winter of 1965/66. Such a project seems feasible at first glance.

Furthermore, the possibility has been raised. To produce concentrated banana juice and banana jelly. The technical merits of this are unclear.
Source: Document 834-925 held at the Gemeente Amsterdam Stadsarchief. 

I wonder if this ever had any commercial results? Does banana beer still exist? And what on earth does it taste like? How was the traditional version prepared without the use of enzymes?

So many questions.