WORLD EXCLUSIVE: Over the past twelve months, White Light’s Innovations team has pushed the boundaries of virtual and extended reality. Pioneering this innovative technology, they have helped deliver international sporting broadcasts, global conferences as well as ground-breaking television pilots. Now, in perhaps what is the company’s most significant achievement to date, we can announce that it has created the world first’s virtual beer: WL’s XR Lager.

WL’s XR Lager has been a long-term passion project of Managing Director Bryan Raven, who comments: “There were countless times when I witnessed our XR technology being used to teleport in speakers, host face-to-face debates and even present gameshows. And each time, I always had the same thought: how could this be used to make a virtual beer? By that I mean wouldn’t it be brilliant to have something where you could buy it once, drink it continuously and never have a hangover? What many people don’t know is that WL’s Unit 20 actually used to be a brewery distribution centre for Courage (that part’s actually true)  so, in a way, we’ve come full circle. That’s what I told the Board anyway…”.

The idea was signed off after Bryan pitched it to several other directors who, he admits, were initially somewhat sceptical. He explains: “Obviously, this is a radical concept, and with anything as revolutionary as this, many people see it as a bit ‘out there’. Thankfully, the team seemed to get where I was coming from. What really persuaded them was my demonstration in which I handed them can after can of beer and told them they could be drinking all of these virtually! After a couple of hours of doing this, they really started to warm to the idea and quickly signed if off”.

To create something as innovative as XR Lager, WL needed to expand its team and ensure it had the necessary industry experts to lead this vital project. This includes Sarah Cox who recently joined the company in her role as Head of Innovation – Sales. She explains: “When I was first approached to join WL, I was told that my role would be driving our ground-breaking XR work across multiple marketplaces worldwide. And whilst that was exciting enough, it was when Bryan mentioned the XR Lager that really swayed it for me. I remember him saying: ‘we’ve all had virtual drinks with friends and family over the past few months but what if we take that to the next level and literally made the drinks virtual?’. To have that kind of innovative, forward-thinking is nothing short of incredible and I knew then that I had to join the company and embark on this exciting journey”. 

One of Sarah’s first tasks was to lead on the R&D of the virtual beer and ensure it could achieve its great taste. She explains: “It has been a fairly intense few weeks sampling various beers and trying to transpose these onto a virtual platform. And while I don’t think I’ve ever had as much Berroca in my life, we’ve now finally managed to create something that tastes amazing, doesn’t give you a hangover and is entirely virtual – and we cannot wait for customers to try it”.

XR Lager was officially made available at all good retailers this morning. Along with the standard lager, there is also an Extra Cold and Non-Alcoholic option. As it stands, this initial supply is part of a temporary run and expected to run out by midday today.

Bryan concludes: “As a company, this past year has shown how we’ve been able to think outside the box and offer our customers solutions they just won’t find anywhere else; something I believe we’ve achieved once again on this occasion. Following on from what will undoubtedly be the huge success of XR Lager, we are also discussing XR food and how we can potentially create virtual all you can eat buffets and virtual takeaways; all without putting on a single pound! And while this may sound slightly far-fetched/borderline deluded, we genuinely believe this is the future and encourage all of our customers to get on board and watch this (virtual) space”.

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