French brewers started using algae with a natural pigment to make the beer blue.Beer under the brand name "Line" is the result of a connection between a company that wants to popularize algae as a food supplement and a nearby craft brewery that was looking for a way to make its drinks more recognizable.The beer is selling well, said Sebastien Verbeke, an employee of Hoppy Urban Brew, which produces the drink."It arouses enormous interest and curiosity of the public," he said.The blue hue comes from spirulina, an algae grown in pools by Etika Spirulina in northern France.The component of spirulina that gives the blue color, called phycocyanin, is then added to the beer during production.Tasting a freshly produced bottle of beer, brewery employee Mathilde Vanmansart described it as hoppy, light and with fruity notes, while the only trace of added algae was the distinctive color.Xavier Delannoy, whose farm provides the spirulina, said that after several trial batches, the brewery found a blend that customers liked.He said 1,500 bottles of the blue beer were sold between October and December last year and the brewery is now preparing to increase production to meet demand.Track N1 via Android apps |iPhone/iPad and social networks Twitter |Facebook |Instagram.