Whats the Weirdest Flavor (or Ingredient) you have brewed with

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ajm163

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Just for a bit of fun. What is the strangest beer you have made?

I'll go first.
I actually brewed a Wasabi Stout a few years ago. Honestly it was actually pretty good. Don't know if i could drink more than one at a time but considering this could have been awful I'm counting it as a success
 
I'll happily raise a glass to Randy Mosher and greedily devour anything he writes, nevertheless, I enjoy beer flavored beer.

I have messed around with exotic sugars and unusual grains--thank you, Mr. Mosher. I even went through a years-long phase of brewing hibiscus wheat beers. But without question, the "weirdest flavor or ingredient" I've ever used is Sorachi Ace. That stuff has no rhyme or reason to it! It's like a deranged significant other--you know it's no good for you, but the good times are just so good. I cannot get a handle on that hop. It has made some amazing beers for me, but just as frequently it lashes out and ruins an otherwise nice batch.

I swore I'd never brew with Sorachi Ace ever again, but I now have a pound of the confounded stuff sitting in the freezer. Like a dog to its vomit...
 
I'll happily raise a glass to Randy Mosher and greedily devour anything he writes, nevertheless, I enjoy beer flavored beer.

I have messed around with exotic sugars and unusual grains--thank you, Mr. Mosher. I even went through a years-long phase of brewing hibiscus wheat beers. But without question, the "weirdest flavor or ingredient" I've ever used is Sorachi Ace. That stuff has no rhyme or reason to it! It's like a deranged significant other--you know it's no good for you, but the good times are just so good. I cannot get a handle on that hop. It has made some amazing beers for me, but just as frequently it lashes out and ruins an otherwise nice batch.

I swore I'd never brew with Sorachi Ace ever again, but I now have a pound of the confounded stuff sitting in the freezer. Like a dog to its vomit...
I think one of my first beers, if not the first, was brewed with sorachi ace. I liked it! It was a nice beer! And I am also the beer flavoured beer type of guy...
 
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I haven't tried it myself yet, but I tasted a beer brewed with bonito flakes once. It was from a Japanese craft brewery. The guy wouldn't tell me how much fish flakes went in it but he did give me a leaflet with all kinds of other details, including malt bill, hop schedule and even the yeast strain, IIRC. It was a pretty good beer, not fishy at all but it had a pleasant aroma reminiscent of being on a boat at sea. I'd drink the hell out of it if I could find it. If I come across that paper I'll post more details.
 
Just for a bit of fun. What is the strangest beer you have made?

I'll go first.
I actually brewed a Wasabi Stout a few years ago. Honestly it was actually pretty good. Don't know if i could drink more than one at a time but considering this could have been awful I'm counting it as a success
Whoa, cool! How did you do it, would you mind sharing your recipe?
 
I did an Oyster Stout recently - I put 10 oysters into the boil with 10 minutes remaining. I actually did the same stout recipe in its regular version at the same time, so I could compare it. We preferred the oyster stout - it had a bit broader flavor, and a touch of salt in its finish.

I'm excited to try some more innovative ingredients. I'm considering spicing an ale with cardamom and nutmeg, or putting some tart cherry into an IPA. I'd appreciate anyone's thoughts on how much of these kinds of ingredients to add, and when in the process?
 
Also did several oyster stouts using just the oyster liquor (juice) for the last 10 min of boil. It contains substantially the same stuff as the oyster and you get to eat those precious bivalves! Even added a tad of sea salt in the boil, too. Cheers!
 
I'm excited to try some more innovative ingredients. I'm considering spicing an ale with cardamom and nutmeg, or putting some tart cherry into an IPA. I'd appreciate anyone's thoughts on how much of these kinds of ingredients to add, and when in the process?

A little cardamom goes a long way in beer. I made a saison in 2015 with 1.3 grams of cardamom per gallon and it wasn't drinkable until 2018 and didn't really meld well until 2020. Granted, this wasn't an IPA where it was competing with other aggressive flavors in an IPA or with cherries. I would start low like 0.5 grams/gallon and add more with a dry hop addition if you feel you need to. You can always add but can never take out.
 
For what it's worth I've made a gallon off blue lotus methiglyn. I brewed the petals into a tea and replaced the water in the mead recipe with it. Then during secondary fermentation I added an ounce of blue lotus stemens to macerate for about 2 weeks. It turned out awesome and tasty in the effects of the Blue Lotus accents the effects of the alcohol very nicely.
 
i've tried brewing with moldy rice? apparently it's a thing to other people....just for me it didn't have alcohol and tasted sour.....but it was good green and moldy, still need to work on that in case inbev forces the gov'ment to sterilize barley....
 
I once made a pumpkin ale for a friend. The grain bill included Maris Otter, Munich Type 1, CaraAroma and CaraMunich Type 1 malts. In addition to that, the boil included almost 2kgs of pumpkin that I roasted with treacle sugar in the oven for a long time (almost 2 hours), cinnamon, ginger and vanilla.

It was the most messy brew I ever made. I ended up with a HUGE bag full of crap after the boil that I had to strain out even though I used a brew bag for the boil, but he absolutely loved the beer. It's not to my taste, but it was spicy, with a strong pumpkin hit that reminded me quite a bit of a pumpkin pie.

That's got to be the weirdest thing I ever brewed with.
 
Rauchbier with bacon, "Italian wheat" with spaghetti, tomatoes, basil & black pepper, Kentucky Common with popcorn....
 
One of my early homebrews was a honeydew ale. Can't remember how much honeydew I put it, but I froze, then thawed it, then put in secondary. Was NOT a good beer. I wanted something that tasted like summer ... NOPE!
 
I brewed in a carboy I bought in an antique shop. I wasn't able to clean properly the decades-old grimy crust :) The end result was just fine, but I missed the opportunity to try a "wild" fermentation...
 
I put a sprig of rosemary in some mead and it tasted like medicine. Probably more from the wood though.
I once added some rosemary from my garden to an IPA. Put in too much, was kinda strong, but it was a great beer to use in cooking.
Marsh rosemary and the rosemary we know as a herb from the kitchen, are two completely unrelated plants.
 
IPA flavored with 4 different flavors of Jolly Rancher candies. Melted them down in microwave with water. Won my local home brew group’s small comp with Jolly Rancher theme
 
I went in my back yard and picked out a bunch of Dandelions and Pine Needles... Wasn't to bad.
 
I did an Oyster Stout recently - I put 10 oysters into the boil with 10 minutes remaining. I actually did the same stout recipe in its regular version at the same time, so I could compare it. We preferred the oyster stout - it had a bit broader flavor, and a touch of salt in its finish.

I'm excited to try some more innovative ingredients. I'm considering spicing an ale with cardamom and nutmeg, or putting some tart cherry into an IPA. I'd appreciate anyone's thoughts on how much of these kinds of ingredients to add, and when in the process?
Glad to hear the oysters impacted the beer in a positive way. I've thought about doing it, and there are a couple oyster farms nearby and I often use local ingredients.
 
I've used several ingredients that I've foraged here in Alaska including fireweed, fireweed root, wormwood, yarrow, crow berries, watermelon berries, birch leaves, birch bark, roasted carrots, pumpkin seeds, dandelion root, rhubarb. It's been pretty hit and miss, and most of the failures were on my end, like not being careful enough to kill wild bacteria and such. I look forward to the summer when thigs are growing again up here
 
Marsh rosemary and the rosemary we know as a herb from the kitchen, are two completely unrelated plants.

I just googled images of marsh rosemary and see what you mean. Very pretty plant, love the vibrant purple colors.
 
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