Brewing with tamarind

[brucedelta]

So have any of these Tamarind beers been brewed yet? I'm friends with a Thai restaurant owner, and she gave me a pack of tamarind paste/pulp and explained how she prepares it for use in sauces (boils and strains to skins/seeds/ excess solids out). I'd love to hear the results from these brew-experiments!

I used tamarind in a test batch with Lime, which overpowered it, and mango, in which you could still taste the Tamarind. We did not like either of these beers enough to want to do a full 5 gallon batch, so we skipped working further with it. I do not have enough time to bother brewing something I do not think I will like, even if it is for a contest. My local club is doing a contest with a concept of basket ingredients like chopped, and I am much happier with that brew.

 

[bigbeergeek]

One of the best meads I ever had was a tamarind mead. It was a project 2 years in the making.

Aside from that: a tamarind american wheat could be nice. My issue with tamarind is how intense/one dimensional it's flavor is. Perhaps a tiny dose of tamarind in a mango wheat beer (?) would be fun.

Tamarind saison/wit seems promising.

I'd like to try it in a big IIPA too.

 

[redfox97]

With sweet tamarind I would think an American wheat hopped with citra would be great.
Tamarind can be found at Latino or oriental stores. You can get it in paste, dried blocks or the actual pods.

 

[Lavender_Pepper]

Cool! Thanks for the updates!

 

[Thoto]

Is there a difference between the fresh tamarind sold as "sweet tamarind" and the tamarind paste used for asian cuisine ?
Is it just the quantity of sugar ?

I'd love to make some kind of tamarind grisette. Or a tamarind imperial brown.
Do you think 2 kgs of paste would be enough for 30 liters of beer ?