A brew of ancient coca is Bolivia's buzzy new beer. But it's unclear if the world will buy in.

In Bolivia, the government-authorized El Viejo Roble distillery, which for years has been making liquor from coca leaves is now gearing up to launch a new coca-infused beer, hoping the WHO's decision to study coca's non-narcotic benefits will help.

TRINIDAD PAMPA, Bolivia — If it were anywhere else in South America, the nondescript house with buckets of coca leaves soaking in liquid could be mistaken for a clandestine cocaine lab.

But this is La Paz, Bolivia, and the fruity aroma of coca steeping in barrels signals that you’ve arrived at the government-authorized El Viejo Roble distillery, which for years has been making liquor from coca leaves and is now gearing up to launch a new coca-infused beer.

It remains questionable whether Bolivia can persuade the world to accept the hardy green leaf best known beyond its borders as the main ingredient of cocaine. But a recent landmark decision by the World Health Organization to study coca’s non-narcotic benefits has rekindled the old hopes of Bolivian farmers, makers and sellers.

“Exporting is a desire that my people and I have had since I was a child,” said Lizzette Torrez, leader of one of Bolivia’s main coca-grower unions.

Within Bolivia, the world’s third-biggest producer of the coca leaf, and of cocaine, the ancient leaf has inspired spiritual rituals among Indigenous communities for generations — and more recently, among the well-heeled, a deluge of coca-related products, including El Viejo Roble’s new star $2 brew.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/bolivia-coca-infused-beer-rcna156513

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