Anyone ever brew with Agave Extract?

I was at the local country market today and came across Agave Extract.
As you are prolly aware Blue Agave is a central ingredient to making some of the finest Tequilas. Has anyone ever used this in their brewing?

Ian

 

I've used it. 2 lbs in a pale ale - no flavor whatsoever.

 

I just used 3/4 of a cup to boost gravity in an IPA since I lost a bunch of wort due to the mega butt ton of hops I put in it. Don't know about flavor.

 

It gave a nice grapefruit quality to a belgian pale when young, but it faded pretty quickly. Certainly worth playing with, but don't expect more than a complexity.

 

I have a Tequiza clone on tap now.

I used about a pound of raw agave syrup in a light, wheat heavy ale. I added the zest of 2 limes, soaked in vodka for a week, at kegging.

The lime comes through very clear, but there is NO agave taste at all.

I added the agave at flame out. It did jack up the OG, though.

 

I tasted an American Wheat with agave extract at my last club meeting. There was a little aroma, if you really concentrated. I couldn't detect any flavor from the agave either.

 

I can attest to this as well. The agave was completely fermentable and contributed no real flavor or aroma to the beer.

 

what if you used the agave syrup to prime with? Do you think it would contribute more flavor?

 

Agave syrup does not provide agave flavor. It is a sweetener, containing mostly sugar (sort of like corn sugar - it doesn't really taste like corn). I made a wine using amber agave syrup as the only ingredient other than water, yeast, and yeast nutrient. It tasted a lot like a sweet white dessert wine. I could probably serve it as a light digestif in place of a grape-based wine and few would know the difference.

 

Agave syrup certainly has some agave flavor (agave just iosn't that flavorful), corn sugar doesn't taste like corn because it is treated with enzymes and refined to be 99.9% pure dextrose. Agave syrup is closer to something like raw cane sugar or maple syrup, mostly sugar, but not refined to remove the flavorful byproducts.