Balsamic vinegar

Alright, this might get me exiled from the forum, but I just caught a whiff of balsamic vinegar from SWMBO's cooking and it occurred to me it might be something that could go well in certain styles of beer. So the question I have is has anyone ever brewed with balsamic vinegar? I'm not referring to the MIT study where they put some in Sam Adams and asked people which they preferred, with or without. I'm talking about actually using it in the brewing process. If it were to be used, I would think a very small amount in secondary and lots of aging time would be appropriate. I wouldn't begin to know which style(s) would be best suited for this (something sour maybe, or a belgian strong?), but I'd like to brew a one gallon test batch to see if this has any merit. Any thoughts? If there's an appreciable amount of interest in this and/or no one else has done it then I'll come up with a recipe and keep this thread updated with the progress.

I think it would be better to add at serving or perhaps bottling. Add it to a Belgian ale (not a big Belgian...maybe a Belgian Amber).

I'd read the Sam Adams test before and think that's just the wrong style for it.

Vinegar is derived from acetobacter. If the vinegar you use isn't pasteurized (and I doubt a good balsamic vinegar would be), then it's going to start going to town in your beer, mitigated to whatever degree you can avoid the presence of oxygen. If you like that flavor, maybe try making a sour beer... those can be damned tasty.

McGarnigle said:

I think it would be better to add at serving or perhaps bottling. Add it to a Belgian ale (not a big Belgian...maybe a Belgian Amber).

I'd read the Sam Adams test before and think that's just the wrong style for it.

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Maybe I'll give that a try, if for no other reason than to see how it tastes before I brew a batch. I agree that SA is the wring style for it.

Sir Humpsalot said:

Vinegar is derived from acetobacter. If the vinegar you use isn't pasteurized (and I doubt a good balsamic vinegar would be), then it's going to start going to town in your beer, mitigated to whatever degree you can avoid the presence of oxygen. If you like that flavor, maybe try making a sour beer... those can be damned tasty.

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That's very interesting about aceto, so I guess that changes my mind about brewing with it. I've thought about making a sour beer, but I thought the balsamic would be unique. Also I've heard sour beers are tough to pull off successfully.

I had a rye beer at a Triumph Brewing here in Philly that had malt vinegar in it. Added a touch of tartness to really bring the rye flavor foward.

My god... I hate Balsamic. It's so overpowering and nasty. I cannot imagine any instance where that would be good in a beer, but if you have success, by all means, let us know!

Have you had a Flanders Red or Oud Bruin? Definitely aceto (i.e. vinegary) flavor. Now not from addition of vinegar but you may be able to mimic with a little bit of balsamic...

Bumping this up because I thought of this myself yesterday and found this thread by googling for it.

My thought was to boil down the balsamic, thereby removing the vinegar taste and acetobacteria and leaving me with a wonderfully flavorful sweet syrup.

Perhaps a reasonable addition to a stout or if it's sugars don't ferment out then perhaps in small quantity in a wheat beer. yum

If you have never boiled down balsamic into a syrup, go right now and buy some strawberries and balsamic. Boil it down and pour it over strawberries. You're welcome.

MazdaMatt said:

Bumping this up because I thought of this myself yesterday and found this thread by googling for it.

My thought was to boil down the balsamic, thereby removing the vinegar taste and acetobacteria and leaving me with a wonderfully flavorful sweet syrup.

Perhaps a reasonable addition to a stout or if it's sugars don't ferment out then perhaps in small quantity in a wheat beer. yum

If you have never boiled down balsamic into a syrup, go right now and buy some strawberries and balsamic. Boil it down and pour it over strawberries. You're welcome.

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Yeah, maybe boil a little down and add to a strawberry blonde, could be interesting.

I made a strawberry balsamic cream ale and it was badass. It works well together! Came out at 5.5% got good reviews on untappd