Garlic beer

[BigKahuna]

I actually like the idea of cooking with it. If you can't drink it, that might be an alternative.

I read 2 1/2 pages before I got to my first thought. I'd think the ol chicken with beer in it's butt would be a prime candidate for Garlic Beer. Also for the bath for Brats on the grill.
Then you could make a fine batch of bread to eat with Italian food...just dump the beer right in the bread dough.

When you were done with that, I would soak some deer steak in it over night before lightly flowering and pad frying.

The possibilities of a garlic beer are nearly endless....I'd say that they end at the notion of pouring one in a pint glass and thinking you were going to drink it.

 

[budbo]

There is a Garlic restaraunt in Honolulu.. everything on the menu has garlic..I love garlic but was skeptical about garlic ice cream... It was actually quite good.. why not garlic beer? find a style that goes well with garlic food and add a hint to it.

First time I had banana beer I was skeptical too, pineapple yea, but when the Micro came out with a banana lager, I didn't think so, but it was good.

 

[k1v1116]

The book "Making Wild Wines & Meads" there is a recipe for garlic wine. it says "this is not a sipping wine. It is intended for the best wine-based salad dressings and marinades you've ever tasted"

it has
12 large garlic bulbs
12oz apple juice concentrate
juice of 1 lemon
2 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp pectic enzyme
1/4 tsp tannin
1pkg montrachet yeast

the garlic is baked in the oven for 2 hours wrapped in foil at 350f.
I havent had the courage to make this yet and I would never try to drink the stuff straight but it could definitely make some good cooking wine. I think for beer you might want to leave out the hops and make a gruit mixture with herb and spices that go better with garlic, basil, oregano, thyme, parsley but this is all for cooking with if you plan to drink the stuff straight I dont know. instead of adding specialty grains maybe you could roast garlic to varying degrees to show case the different flavors / colors the garlic can add.

 

[tdavisii]

I friggin love garlic. But garlic in a beer. Just think Now when you offend women for being too drunk you have horrible breath to go along with it.
Think though. It would lower cholesterol.

 

[DeathBrewer]

hmm...i dunno...it definitely sounds intersting, but tricky. i'm pretty wary of what goes into my beer.

my friend almost has me convinced to make a ginger porter, tho. almost

 

[Desert_Sky]

theres a beer that is going to hit the midwest very soon if not already. Its the Mama Mia's pizza beer. I was lucky enough to have the brewer give me a few a couple months ago.

I know what you're thinking....gross right? Well it has sun dried tomatoes, garlic, oregano, and basil. Its not a beer that you're going to drink more than maybe two at a time, but its for pairing.... and it will go really well with any Italian food. If you keep the beer really balanced this garlic beer you're thinking of will turn out very well.

 

[AnonyBrew]

I've had the garlic wine from Gilroy & thought it was tasty. The garlic flavor was up front, wasn't overpowering, and dissipated quickly. I think a garlic beer if done right would be good too. Drink it with spaghetti.

 

[Loweface]

I made a garlic chillie wine a few weeks ago with similar thoughts for cooking...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=66364

It is still in primary so I can tell you how it tastes but it smells great!

I think that one good option to taste test a garlic beer would be to secondary 1 gallon of a similar beer as planned above onto some dried garlic for a few weeks, then bottle.

This gives you the opportunity to play with the quantity of garlic without risking a full batch...

 

[sterling214]

In my last 2 batches, I bottled a 6 pack of each with various homegrown peppers. These pepper beers are amazing, and the peppers come out of the bottle looking like they were just picked, 6 months later. I am now thinking about adding a half clove of garlic into a few bottles of the batch I have sitting in the secondary right now. I will update with results in a couple of months.

 

[llazy_llama]

I love beer and I love garlic, but the idea of combining the two makes my stomach churn. Then again, some people swear by sour beer, and I won't go near the stuff. To each his own, and all that. Good luck!

 

[TexasStu]

So, this coworker lost a BIG bet? Hate this coworker that much? LOL
I gotta agree that it sounds disgusting (but, then, so does peanut butter, banana, lettuce and mayo - who knew?)

 

[sterling214]

The pepper beer is fun to drink, this garlic beer I expect to be used primarily for cooking.

 

[llazy_llama]

The pepper beer is fun to drink, this garlic beer I expect to be used primarily for cooking.

Now pepper beer, I would be willing to try. What style of beer did you use for this? Even better, do you have a recipe you'd be willing to post?

I do loves me some peppers.

 

[mangine77]

Magic Hat makes a Halloween garlic beer as a novelty. My buddy and I bought a couple of bottles and we did crack one open and tried it. Completely awful and undrinkable. I love garlic but not in my brew.

 

[sterling214]

1 batch was a simple amber ale.
3lb light DME
3lb amber DME
1lb crystal 20
1 oz Sterling for 60min.
poke holes in a peppers and add 1 to each bottle that you wish to be a pepper beer.
The other batch was a porter, pretty much the same beer, just replace 1 oz chocolate malt for the crystal 20.
The beauty of this is that you can do it with any batch of beer you want, and you don't have to make a whole batch of pepper beer. While it is good, usually one in a sitting is quite enough.
I used Serrano, cyan and jalapeño.

 

[DrinksWellWithOthers]

Magic Hat makes a Halloween garlic beer as a novelty. My buddy and I bought a couple of bottles and we did crack one open and tried it. Completely awful and undrinkable. I love garlic but not in my brew.

I was listening to an interview with the brewers from MH and they said they kept a lot of that batch and make all the new employees drink it.

 

[Icewatch]

Wow, can't believe the many anti-garlicers there are... If Garlic was shredded and added with the malt and left to boil in, I think it might add a great flavor. I'll try and let you guys know.

 

[PatientZero]

Wow, can't believe the many anti-garlicers there are... If Garlic was shredded and added with the malt and left to boil in, I think it might add a great flavor. I'll try and let you guys know.

Yeah, seriously. I could add garlic to anything and love it ten times more.....

 

[Wrathbone]

I think a necessary step for adding garlic would be roasting it, to mellow out the flavors and sweeten it up a bit. That, with some spicy/herby hops (none added after 30 minutes boiling), could make it drinkable. For garlic lovers.

 

[caphector]

my friend almost has me convinced to make a ginger porter, tho. almost

I know it's been a while, but…

I tried a ginger porter and I quite liked it. The brewer said he added the ginger (2 oz, I think) at five minutes from the end of the boil. Lovely ginger nose, not much in the flavor. He said he was thinking about adding a couple more oz of ginger earlier in the boil to get more flavor.

I thought it was good.

 

[BsmtBrewer]

Has anybody done a garlic beer with good results? I'd really like to hear about it and see the recipe.

I think it could be a great thing, but would like to hear about what quantities and when to add worked best. I'm thinking adding some roasted cloves to secondary might be good.

 

[Cranapple]

Hmmm... There are an awful lot of people in this thread saying "I'm going to go try a garlic beer!" with zero results so far.

I strongly suspect that they are dead. Let this be a lesson to us all.

 

[EBloom97]

I brewed a garlic beer today, and I intend to post my tasting notes assuming I survive.

Here's the recipe specifics:
Smoked Garlic Porter
8 lbs american 2 row
2 lbs smoked malt
1 lb victory malt
12 oz crystal 80
8 oz chocolate malt

Mashed at 151*F for 75 minutes

75 minute boil
1 oz northern brewer added @ 70 minutes
1 oz willamette added @ 10 minutes
4 medium-sized cloves of raw garlic added @ 10 minutes

OG: 1.064
Yeast: Wyeast 1275 Thames Valley Ale

I also intend to roast 4 more medium-sized cloves of garlic in vegetable oil and add that to the secondary. Dry garlicing FTW.

Stay tuned...

 

[Aschecte]

No offense but I wanna puke just reading about garlic beer. is this a gag? does your co-worker like garlic that much.

 

[EBloom97]

I brewed a garlic beer today, and I intend to post my tasting notes assuming I survive.

Here's the recipe specifics:
Smoked Garlic Porter
8 lbs american 2 row
2 lbs smoked malt
1 lb victory malt
12 oz crystal 80
8 oz chocolate malt

Mashed at 151*F for 75 minutes

75 minute boil
1 oz northern brewer added @ 70 minutes
1 oz willamette added @ 10 minutes
4 medium-sized cloves of raw garlic added @ 10 minutes

OG: 1.064
Yeast: Wyeast 1275 Thames Valley Ale

I also intend to roast 4 more medium-sized cloves of garlic in vegetable oil and add that to the secondary. Dry garlicing FTW.

Stay tuned...

Yeah, so I added the roasted garlic as planned about a week ago, and I kegged it today.

Tasted the gravity sample, and it was noticeably smokey/roasted garlicy. The raw garlic did not come through nearly as much as the roasted garlic added to the fermenter did. You could say the garlic flavor enhances the smokey/roasty characteristics of the beer... but I wouldn't.

It's not going to be for everyone, this beer. It's clearly a taste that fans of garlic would like, and everyone else would dislike. To be honest I kind of wish I didn't use any garlic in this recipe because it seems like the base beer would have been better without it.

I'll report back when I've had a glass of it carbed, but I think I've got my answer.

 

[waldoar15]

You know, I love garlic and even grow quite a bit of it, but I think it would probably be best if you roasted it (without the normal olive oil). Even then, IDK if I'd drink beer with it in there.

Whatever floats your boat though.

 

[knotquiteawake]

subscribed for results!

 

[EBloom97]

Yeah, so I added the roasted garlic as planned about a week ago, and I kegged it today.

Tasted the gravity sample, and it was noticeably smokey/roasted garlicy. The raw garlic did not come through nearly as much as the roasted garlic added to the fermenter did. You could say the garlic flavor enhances the smokey/roasty characteristics of the beer... but I wouldn't.

It's not going to be for everyone, this beer. It's clearly a taste that fans of garlic would like, and everyone else would dislike. To be honest I kind of wish I didn't use any garlic in this recipe because it seems like the base beer would have been better without it.

I'll report back when I've had a glass of it carbed, but I think I've got my answer.

As it turns out, this mellowed out really nicely to be basically exactly what I wanted it to be. The aroma of garlic is there in the nose, then it has a nice smooth garlic taste to it, but without ceasing to be recognizable as a smoked porter. If the idea of a garlic beer intrigues you, and someone handed you this beer to try, you would be pleased with it. It's a great pairing beer too for garlic-laden dishes - I served it with steak the other night - and it would probably be great to cook with too.

I'm thinking of serving it at a party later this month. We'll see if the unwashed masses enjoy it as much as I do...

 

[FloridaCracker]

EBloom,

Thank you for A) Revivng this thread, and B) Actually going through with trying it, and C) Telling us what you thought....

I'm kinda new to brewing beer. I've only done kits. But I have recently judged in my local clubs contest and that got me thinking "why not tweak a recipie of my own." I am now thinking of a pumpkin beer, but just this morning I thought to myself while craving a hamburger and french fries "imagine a beer that would impart a residual garlic mouth-feel to compliment a hearty cheddar cheese burger."

I searched HBT and found this thread and it has helped me. Some of the nay-sayers had me nervous, but just the idea of cooking with it makes me want to try... So thanks to you I think I'm going to. I will use a 1 time use fermenter to do about 2 gallons worth, then store it in 16oz publix club soda bottles (their super cheap, and already sterile). If I don't like the way they compliment a meal, then I will just use them for the many other great ideas I saw previously mentioned.

 

[keys2heaven]

Love the concept, but garlic always makes me think of salt. What would you pair a beer like this with? Seems like a Jones soda kinda concept.

Maybe we should make some Thanksgiving dinner beer! For example: turkey beer, garlic potato beer, yam beer, gravy beer, cranberry beer. Pumpkin is already a given.