It’s official: Drinking is passe. In an age where you can inhale cocktails and chew on spherified spirits, liquid washing down your throat is so yesterday. That must be what the Italians think too, as brewer Alta Quota and chocolatier Napoleone have teamed up to give us Birra Spalmabile – the world’s first spreadable beer.

It started with a joke made by chocolate-shop owner Pietro Napoleone that beer could be eaten if only it was thickened. So, together with her brewer friend, Emanuela Laurenzi, they experimented with various beers to create the slightly sweet, jam-like Omid dark ale and Greta blond ale. As their names suggest, the former has a more intense, malty flavour, while the latter has a subtler taste of hops.

Though they both contain 40 per cent beer, they’re not likely to get you even the slightest bit drunk. Which is fine because the beer paste, which Napoleone has described as “very smooth and creamy… and can be spread like a chocolate cream”, is apparently a superb accompaniment to cheeses, cold cuts and even desserts like ice cream and crepes. Trust the Italians to make having a beer at eight in the morning part of a breakfast ritual and not a sign to seek professional help.

Available exclusively at Selfridges & Co.