Spicy Tomato Beer

[dodsonish]

I've searched the forums and only found 2 threads about Tomato beer. It seems most think it's a terrible idea, but I'm on a mission for a buddy with a sandwich shop to put one together. I decided to add the fruit and spices at the secondary to a medium pale ale to get the "fresh" flavors and aromas instead of adding to the boil, which I think would render "cooked" or "sauce" flavor to the beer.

I've not finalized my recipe for the fruit and spice addition, and am open to ideas if anyone has input. I've read horseradish will add a bite to beer, and considering red pepper flake for a little heat. It would be great to get some input, other than "eat the tomato and drink the beer" comments.

Cheers!

 

[BobBailey]

Why not do it the traditional way? Take a can of Bud, Miller or Coors and add tomato juice, Tabasco sauce and whatever else you would for a bloody mary. Or substitute a blonde or cream ale for the canned beer. Doing the mixing in the keg or glass would give you the luxury of dialing it in without making subsequent batches.

Bob

 

[Urban_Samurai]

you could try using tomato water as top-up. Tomato water come from placing diced tomatoes in cheesecloth sack, hanging it and collecting the runoff. My understanding is that it has a cleaner tomato taste.

 

[dodsonish]

Why not do it the traditional way? Take a can of Bud, Miller or Coors and add tomato juice, Tabasco sauce and whatever else you would for a bloody mary. Or substitute a blonde or cream ale for the canned beer. Doing the mixing in the keg or glass would give you the luxury of dialing it in without making subsequent batches.

Bob

I'm wanting to do something different than the traditional "red beer".

 

[Yooper]

I've had a 'pizza beer' before, but I forget the company that made it. Maybe someone else will remember?

I think it sold fairly well for such an odd beer, and some folks liked it. I thought it was terrible, to be honest. The combination of fermented tomato and beer is gross.

I make a tomato wine that turns out pretty good, but once the tomatoes ferment and the sugar is gone out of it it would be quite odd in a beer in my opinion.

 

[November]

http://www.mammamiapizzabeer.com/main.php

 

[dodsonish]

Contacted them to see about shipping some our my way to try. Sounds like the pizza beer would be more of the "saucy" flavor that I'm trying to avoid.

 

[fimpster]

I met a lady who would juice tomatoes and use the juice for tomato wine. She'd add a small amount of DME for body, but it was basically fermented tomato juice. Not terrible really.

 

[maltoftheearth]

You could do a tomato and basil wheat beer, that combination would work for me. May e some pepper and salt in there as well.

I like doing herb beers and I like to think of beer as just another form of cooking. As such, I look for the flavors that match well. The ale profile, in my opinion, does not work well but wheats and lagers are light enough to highlight the tomato flavor. Part of what is special about tomatoes is their acidity. This is going to be tough to highlight in beer (already acidic) but might come through better in lagers and wheats due to a more delicate flavor profile.

 

[dodsonish]

To the secondary. Puréed 2 lbs of tomato, 1 jalepeno pepper, and fresh basil. Beer in the glass was before adding the fruit. Will be interesting to see how the flavors develop in this beer. Thinking a dash of salt may compliment it. Will see.

 

[dodsonish]

Oh, and about 2 tbs of red pepper flakes.

 

[Nosnum08]

You could also try Contracing Shorts Brewery out of Bellaire MI. they make a tomato beer called Bloody Beer.

https://www.shortsbrewing.com/beers/bloody-beer/


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[TasunkaWitko]

The idea itself sounds great to me - not sure if the execution would match the expectations, but it's worth a shot.

I was reading about a jalapeno saison where the jalapeno was added toward the end of the boil; from what little I know about saison, it looks like a good style for what you are trying to do. Perhaps brewing a saison and adding tomatoes and/or juice in place of the jalapeno would work?

 

[Gar]

Years ago i typed in tomato beer in on google and something came up where a bar/restarant in japan wanted to make a in house one and the acid was a problem. id just use a lite acid tomato juice

 

[dodsonish]

Bottled this tonight. Not sure about how the flavors are going to come through on this one. Will see once its carbed and cold. One thing I've learned is to not puree the fruit, unless you like pulp in your beer. Guess it should settle in the bottle after a bit.

 

[sloanfamilydsm]

I enjoy a "red" beer from time to time. I make them the traditional way and add about 2/3 beer to 1/3 tomato juice (V8).
I would think that same ratio would need to occur in the secondary to achieve the desired flavor. Just my 2cents

 

[dodsonish]

Just cracked open the first one. Jalapeño is much stronger than I expected. Barely even get a tomato flavor until the beer warms up a bit in the glass. Very heavy jalepeno aroma. Good with a dash of salt. Not a terrible beer. Think I may try this again and change up the grain bill to get a more bready flavor and cut about half of the jalepeno out.