What's the weirdest thing you have ever seen in a beer recipe?

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Plenty of recipies for smoked malts and Maple sugar!!

I think the most unusual was a black peppercorn lager! Black pepper so strong you wanted to put it on a steak!
 
Earlier this year I tasted a Maple/Bacon ale that contained bacon and maple syrup. It was actually very good.
If you looked carefully you could actually see little particles of fat settling out in the beer.
 
Papazian also mentions an old recipe for "cock ale," in which a whole (dead) rooster is a featured ingredient. Harpoon brewery (Boston) is currently making a limited run of an oyster stout. I haven't been able to find a bottle yet. I know that snake wines can be found in parts of Asia, it would surprise me if snake beers weren't also available. James Spencer makes a Frankenberry (breakfast cereal) beer on one of his video podcasts.
 
Papazian also mentions an old recipe for "cock ale," in which a whole (dead) rooster is a featured ingredient. Harpoon brewery (Boston) is currently making a limited run of an oyster stout. I haven't been able to find a bottle yet. I know that snake wines can be found in parts of Asia, it would surprise me if snake beers weren't also available. James Spencer makes a Frankenberry (breakfast cereal) beer on one of his video podcasts.

I've gotten the oyster stout a couple times. Turned out quite good, it's similar to a milk stout.
 
I wonder if a bacon beer exists.

It does, you "dry hop" the bacon.

I think the weirdest rumored ingredient I've heard was that Newcastle brown ale used to cook a dead goat or sheep in the boil.

Ever since I heard that I refused to drink it. heh.
 
Harpoon brewery (Boston) is currently making a limited run of an oyster stout. I haven't been able to find a bottle yet.

As I mentioned in another thread, oyster stouts are pretty common--at least one (Marston's IIRC) is mentioned in the BJCP guidelines as a common commercial example of a sweet stout. I wouldn't really even consider that a weird ingredient any more, kinda like how putting fish in tacos was bizarre the first time it was done but became commonplace after enough repetition.

Sam Adams brews a limited one annually for a local oysterfest that's very good, and the old Rogue Oyster Cloyster was great. It seems like they're more common in the northeast, but even down here in DC there are a number of bars/brewpubs that offer one (Fordham in Annapolis, MD has a great one; Gaffney's in Arlington used to have a good one).

Harpoon's is decent but nothing special, as was the old Dogfish Head version.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stout#Oyster_stout has a bit of history on the style.
 
After reading the chili dog lager thread the other day, I think we need to qualify question a little bit and ask "What's the weirdest ingredient you've ever seen in a GOOD beer?"

That said, the weirdest beer ingredient I've ever tasted was mustard. It was actually quite good (albeit subtle) in a Belgian.
 
A bumble bee...

I did once have a perfectly perserved spider in a bottle of my Irish Red - I couldn't stomach actually drinking the spider, but drank all the way down to it (it had sunk in the beer).

I swear I read somewhere about brewing with mushrooms as the fermenting agent - certain mushrooms can ferment like yeast - but now cannot find it.
 
Rocks.

Heat rocks to very high temps, about 400F-500F degrees, then drop enough of the hot the rocks in the kettle to achive a boil. Now continue to switch rocks out to keep you wort boiling. Cold rocks from the kettle back to the fire, hot rocks from the fire to the kettle. The idea here is to boil your beer for an entire hour without using any direct heat, only the indirect heat from the rocks.
 
Rocks. Heat rocks to very high temps, about 400F-500F degrees, then drop enough of the hot the rocks in the kettle to achive a boil. Now continue to switch rocks out to keep you wort boiling. Cold rocks from the kettle back to the fire, hot rocks from the fire to the kettle. The idea here is to boil your beer for an entire hour without using any direct heat, only the indirect heat from the rocks.

That's not weired, that's just a stein beer. We're going to be doing those as part of historical brewing presentations for a local museum next year.

There's a great article in the archives of byo. http://***********/stories/beer-sty...beer-styles/862-hot-rocks-making-a-stein-beer
 
Papazian also mentions an old recipe for "cock ale," in which a whole (dead) rooster is a featured ingredient. Harpoon brewery (Boston) is currently making a limited run of an oyster stout. I haven't been able to find a bottle yet.

Thank god its a dead rooster. Imagine trying to shove a living rooster into a bucket full of beer! :eek:

Harpoon's oyster stout is alright. Tastes like a stout with a little saltiness or something. If you didn't know there were oysters in it you probably wouldn't be able to pick it out.
 
I have used swill-grade beer; Natty, Milwaukee Best, Huber, Old Milwaukee, Bud Lite, Miller Lite, Black Label, and a few others as mash water. Heated the beer to 163, smelled like piss, then doughed in for a perfect 5.2 pH. We made a very nice imperial pils.
 
I have used swill-grade beer; Natty, Milwaukee Best, Huber, Old Milwaukee, Bud Lite, Miller Lite, Black Label, and a few others as mash water. Heated the beer to 163, smelled like piss, then doughed in for a perfect 5.2 pH. We made a very nice imperial pils.


Oh Yeah I remember that!!!!!

I mashed my newest version of my chocolate mole porter using instant mexican hot cholocate dissolved in the water before doughing in.
 
HBT's "Dude" made a beer with Mountain Dew in it. I mean, a LOT of Mountain Dew.

It was f*cking terrible.
 
I like the swill grade beer for mashing. That's definitely awesome on so many levels!
 
I have used swill-grade beer; Natty, Milwaukee Best, Huber, Old Milwaukee, Bud Lite, Miller Lite, Black Label, and a few others as mash water. Heated the beer to 163, smelled like piss, then doughed in for a perfect 5.2 pH. We made a very nice imperial pils.

hilarious. what did you sparge with?

got a recipe?
 
Here is the recipe for Imperial Pilsner.


BMC_Imperial_Pils_027.jpg
 
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