The Southern Tier Brewing Company in Lakewood, New York, suggests having this beer as a dessert, pairing it with bananas foster (bananas with dark brown sugar, cinnamon etc) or even pouring it over vanilla ice cream.
One tasting of the stout describes it so: “Do you like expensive, vanilla-heavy desserts, but hate the whole chewing thing? Grab a bottle.”
Mama Mia Pizza Beer
Mama Mia Pizza beer is the “world’s first culinary beer” and made in Chicago. Here’s some information from the website on how it’s … cooked:
“The Margarita pizza is put into the mash & steeped like a tea bag. A whole wheat crust made with water, flour & yeast is topped with tomato, oregano, basil & garlic. The essence of the pizza spices is washed off with hot water and filtered into a brewpot, where it is boiled for a long, long time. During the process, we add hops & spices in a cheesecloth type bag & filter the cooled liquid into a fermentation vessel. (big glass 6 gallon water jug). After a week or two, the beer is good to go. Keg it or bottle it.”
Yum.
Smisje Wostyntje Torhouts Mostaard Bier
A strong golden ale flavored with mustard seeds from the nearby village of Tourhout, this beer is brewed in the town of Smisje in Belgium. It is said that there isn’t a strong taste of mustard to it, but for some this is probably a blessing.
Mikkeller Beer Geek Brunch Weasel
Unusually, this beer is made from the coffee beans that pass through the guts and out the rear end of the civet cat – the Kopi Luwak.
A black, chocolately stout, it actually sounds very pleasant and complex. But whether you’ll be able to stomach it or not will really depend on being able to put the journey of the coffee bean out of your mind
Bilk
Brewed in Hokkaido, Japan, this product was created to use up surplus stocks of milk. Yes, it’s beer mixed with milk. In fact, a third of the concoction is made up of dairy goodness.
Bilk is a sweet beer that pairs up well with desserts, apparently tastes like real beer, but has a wiff of dairy about it. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to work out if it’s still available (it first went into production in 2007) if anyone has any information, let me know and I’ll pass on the details.
If you can’t find Bilk, there is another milky Japanese beer on the market: Hitachino Nest Beer. It’s brewed with lactose sugars and is apparently thick and yogurt-like
Kwispelbier Dog Beer
Dogs can’t metabolise real beer, so this Norwegian product aims to serve a need – for the dogs who like beer but really shouldn’t drink it: Kwispelbier’s a non-alcoholic version.
This is another drink that appeared in 2007 (a good year for quirky beer, obviously) but I’ve been unable to find out if it’s still on the market. Again – any info greatly appreciated.
Bacon Maple Ale
Applewood smoked bacon (no less) is used is this concoction, cooked up as a collaboration between a doughnut company (spelt “doughnut” even though it’s an American company) and Newport, Oregon brewers Rogue Ales.
Impossible to say how the taste of doughnut comes into it, but some reviewers say that the drink in the garish pink bottle has a smoky aroma, while others can only taste “dirty bbq grill water”
Spirulina Beer
This photo of Red Dot is courtesy of TripAdvisor
Get the Benjamin Button effect by drinking green Hawaiian Spirulina Beer (brewed in Singapore). Supposedly anti-aging, (although the alcohol is bound to undo any positive consequences), the spirulina grown in Hawaii is a superior variety of this micro salt water plant (nods head wisely).
Three Floyds Rabbid Rabbit
Brewed in Indiana in a Franco-Belgian style, Three Floyds Rabbid Rabbit beer (don’t try saying that when you’re drunk) is flavoured with coriander, lavender, chamomile, rose hips and rock candy!
It’s quite a perfumed concoction with hints of lemon peel and cinnamon, according to some
Mongozo Coconut, Banana and Quinua Beers
The exotically-named Mongozo brand is actually brewed in the Netherlands, and they have quite a range of exotically-flavoured beers.
Choose from coconut, banana, mango, quinua (their spelling) and palmnut. Some reviewers have been less than enthusiastic about the coconut and banana flavours. (Overly sweet and artificial-tasting are some of the kinder comments).
Hell or High Watermelon Wheat Beer
The Amendment Brewery in San Francisco produce this sweetish wheat beer. Slightly strange, but apparently better when eaten with actual watermelon.
Born in Belfast and now living in London, Julie McNamee is involved in internet marketing as a day job and blogging as a hobby. She’s interested in all things quirky and Fortean, as well as art, photography and theatre. Her blog Quirky Travel, specializes in London and Paris top tips and off the beaten path information with subjects such as London film locations and unusual Paris museums.
