Aug 6, 2013
Malt, hops, yeast, water... Bacon? Meat beers have arrived.
Vegans, brace thyselves. Beer is food, more than ever before. When it comes to brewing, the use of meat products is neither
rare nor
novel. Animal products such as isinglass
(dried swim bladder of fish)
and lactose
(sugar derived from milk) have been used as clarifying
agents
and basic fermentables for ages. Look at it this way. Beer
more or less begins life as a boiled “stew” of grains and other
flavorings and fermentables from herbs to hop flowers to, yes,
even oysters. Brewers yeast, a living single cell organism,
devours the fermentables, leaving behind C02, alcohol, and,
most importantly, flavor. Today, though, a few brewers are
looking beyond routine additives like isinglass to actual butchery for the brewhouse.
more or less begins life as a boiled “stew” of grains and other
flavorings and fermentables from herbs to hop flowers to, yes,
even oysters. Brewers yeast, a living single cell organism,
devours the fermentables, leaving behind C02, alcohol, and,
most importantly, flavor. Today, though, a few brewers are
looking beyond routine additives like isinglass to actual butchery for the brewhouse.
World Beer Cup medal-winning Portland brewers Alex Ganum (Upright) and Jason MacAdam
(Burnside) drew inspiration from their carnivorous food cravings for their latest collaboration,
Captain Beefheart, a red ale brewed with—you guessed it—60 pounds of grilled beef hearts.
“We normally don’t work with savory flavors in beer,” says Ganum. “Flavor profiles for beer are
traditionally limited to ingredients that are bright, dark, acidic or bitter.”
Reason being? Brewing with meat products can pose problems such as adverse yeast reactions and
an unpalatable minerality. But, due to their low fat content and lack of collagen, the beef hearts proved
perfect for the beer, Ganum says.
The result? A medium-bodied malty red ale—literally, blood red—with faint minerality and the main
dish, Ganum offers, “beautiful complexity”. This “anim-ale” trend isn’t exclusive to Portland. In
2010 Boston Beer Company teamed up with chef David Burke to create a beefheart ale, “Burke in
a Bottle”. Many others have followed in their meaty footsteps including the Bacon Brown Ale from
Uncommons Brewery, Pisgah Benton Bacon Stout, and Brooklyn Brewery's one-off Bacon Beer,
Reinshweinsgebot.
What meat beers have you tried? Tell us here. And read on for descriptions of three recent brews that
put the ‘hop’ in butcher shop.
Captain Beefheart from Upright Brewery: Named in honor of the late musician Captain BeefHeart,
this beefy beer beer was a collaboration project between Burnside Brewing’s Jason McAdam and
Upright owner and head brewer Alex Ganum. Brewed with Turkish bay leaf, long pepper, pound of
salt, and 60 pounds of charred beef hearts, the red ale is medium bodied and malty with hints of
minerality.
ABV: 5.85%
Availability: Sold Out.
Duck Duck Drunk Porter from Breakside: This experimental anniversary beer was made using a
chocolate porter and 100 pounds of roasted Muscovy duck. Its dark mahogany, frothy appearance
yields bittersweet cocoa on the nose. A beautifully balanced porter, with a slight umami backbone
from the ducks.
ABV: 6.1%
Availability: On tap at Breakside Brewery's Milwaukie Taproom.
Riffle Urchin/Uni Ale from Burnside Brewing: First released in December 2012, this German Gose
style wheat beer was brewed with sea urchin, tomato water, and smoked Jacobsen sea salt. The beer is
light-bodied with subtle salinity and brininess.
ABV: 4.9%
Availabilty: Sold Out.
Photo Credit: Pisgah Brewing Company.
