No, I don’t mean Spring. I meant that it’s a great era in modern history when it comes to the proliferation of the craft beer industry.
Popular Science magazine states that a new craft brewery will open every sixteen hours this year. Yes, of course some of them will make crappy beer and fold. Some will be run into the ground because of lack of knowledge on how to run a business. But the mere fact that craft brewing is spreading so quickly and gaining such popularity – that’s a win for people like you and me!
Today starts a series of I-don’t-know-how-many-parts on one of the great side effects of this boom: craziness. With a new craft brewery opening every few seconds, how can they stand up and be noticed? How does the well-meaning home brewer turn his passion into a viable business? You can’t just spin out an average IPA and an okay lager and really get noticed. Some breweries are knocking on the 4th wall … ingredients.
So our next few posts are going to explore some of the stranger and more interesting flavor additions that brewers are trying. THIS is why I say it’s a great time to be alive: something you’ve never dreamed of is being brewed right now, and it’s such an absolute joy to be able to try some of those flavors.
Our first installment is with Rogue Sriracha Stout. Yes … SRIRACHA. That delicious, yet potently spicy sauce you see in Asian restaurants. Rogue partnered with the glorious “rooster sauce” to produce this spicy stout. First sip … delicious. It’s a smooth and rich stout, but it has this finishing kick of spiciness that’s surprisingly good. Sip three … so good, I really enjoy this beer, but that’s really quite spicy. Sip nine … must have water. Don’t get me wrong – I dig spicy food. I get the Three Mile Island wings; I add cayenne pepper to my chili; I put that rooster sauce all over burgers and Asian dishes. But this stout, for some reason, kicked my tail. Maybe it’s the cumulative effect of heat that grew over the full pint. But it certainly had the back of my throat burning by the time I saw the bottom of the glass.
Did I like it? I’m not sure. I will say yes – the flavors are great. I certainly couldn’t have two of them at one sitting. If you like stouts and spicy foods, I highly recommend this one. It’s SO unique! This is the beer that got me to thinking about the crazy flavors being thrown into beer these days. Again, that’s why it’s a great time to be a beer lover … as long as you’re ready to try the experimental stuff. (And there are some CRAZY flavors out there!)
What is the oddest ingredient you’ve ever seen in a beer?
