Steve Koenemann

Just a little bit different…

I had a couple of things come across my desk this week that got me thinking about beer that some might consider to be a little bit to the left (or right) of center. I am talking about beer that most would consider “unusual”; not the typical hops, malt and yeast lineage that the vast majority of the beer that we all drink can be categorized as. These are beers that I would consider to be unusual because of their name, ingredients or marketing approach. I feel compelled to make the disclaimer that I have not tried very many of these beers mentioned in this article… but I would want to, just for the pure novelty of having done so.

Let’s start with just a few of the beers I found that have what I consider to be unusual names. At the top of this particular list would have to be Mikkeller’s Beer Geek Breakfast Pooh Coffee Cask Festival Edition. Now don’t get me wrong, Mikkeller (as many of you will attest) makes great beer. This one just happens to be made with the most expensive and unique coffee in the world; from kopi luwak beans. Why is that unusual, you might ask? For those of you that do not drink exotic coffee, kopi luwak coffee is unique because the beans have passed through the digestive tract of the luwak (Asian Palm Civet). Closely related to the mongoose and about the size of a house cat, this animal feasts on coffee cherries from the trees and leaves behind the indigestible coffee beans in its scat (pooh). These beans are happily collected by the Sumatran owners of the plantation and sent off to be produced into coffee (sans scat, hopefully). I found no fewer than 11 beers on RateBeer that claim to be made with this coffee and many of those come from top shelf brewers. I am sure that this person is long gone, but wouldn’t it be interesting to talk with whomever was the first person to make “scat coffee”… what were they thinking?

Next on the list of unusual beer names has to be Big Sky Moose Drool Brown Ale. For you city folk and for those of you that live in areas where moose are not found, this is one big, majestic, but ugly animal. This beer is not, of course, made from moose drool (fortunately) and I am sure that those that enjoy it… it is one of the most popular beers in Montana… would agree that it is a good beer. I have only been up close to one moose that had been shot by a hunter (about 1,000 lbs with a 40+” antler rack), but the idea of beer being made from something that smelled that bad sort of turns my stomach. Male moose have the disgusting habit of rolling in their urine to make themselves attractive to the females of their species. Moose hunting season and mating seasons are close together and I have to tell you that I would gladly drink gallons of “skunked” beer to keep from having to drink one tiny glass of beer that smelled like that moose!

Let’s move onto beer with unusual ingredients. The classic here has to be beer made with chili peppers. Sadly, most of these beers, both from the few that I have tried and from looking at the RateBeer ratings are not very good beer. Cave Creek Chili Beer was (perhaps) the first of these to be sold commercially in any quantity. I have tried a small amount of this beer and I was not a very big fan. Novelty aside, the pale lager base beer, the little amount of heat and the small amount of chili flavor just did not mix well together. Something that would be more to my liking would be a darker beer, an Imperial Stout, made with chili. There is a long acknowledged affinity between chocolate and chili pepper flavors. Sierra Nevada makes one called Sierra Nevada Hellraiser Chocolate Chili Imperial Stout that sounds interesting to me because of the chocolate connection. I found 75 beers on RateBeer that have “chili” in their name. If you find one that you like, let me know.

There are also other types of pepper used to make beer and, being the pepper lover that I am, I really enjoy some of these as well. Two of my favorites are Dieu du Ciel Route des Épices, made with black and green peppercorns, and Vermont’s- own Bobcat Café Unrepentant Stout, made with Pippali (Piper longum). The pepper influence makes both of these beers a perfect pairing for a hearty steak dinner or a Montreal smoked meat sandwich (Yum!).

We could not pass by unusual beer ingredients without mentioning watermelon. At last year’s American Craft Beer Festival held in Boston, there were a number of brewers offering beer samples with this ingredient. After having tried quite a few of these, I have to admit that, at least in my mind, there should be room in the beer world for watermelon beer, if it is done right. My favorite watermelon beer, to date, has to be Thomas Hooker Watermelon Ale. Its excellent watermelon aroma does not follow exactly to its taste, but a small slice of red, ripe watermelon plunked into the beer makes for a nice garnish and completes the experience for me.

Lastly, and to the beers that actually got me thinking on this topic, we come to beers that are being target marketed to a select group of people. The ones that caught my eye this week are brewed by Minerva, a small Mexican brewer. These “artisan honey ales”, called Salamandra and Purple Hand, are being produced and marketed toward the LGBT community. The name “Purple Hand” draws reference from the historic 1969 San Francisco protest by the Gay Liberation Front and the Society for Individual Rights at the San Francisco Examiner. These are supposedly the first beers targeted at this group of people and, if the reaction of the Internet media is any indication, this small brewer has hit upon something that other brewers may pay attention to. The initial 500 cases of this bottled beer that Minerva produced sold out quickly and they are, of course, making more. There is also talk of the brewery opening a “Purple Hand” bar in Mexico City and producing other alcoholic drinks targeted at this particular group of people. Being a businessman at heart, I say “bravo” for establishing a new niche market for their products.

Well, I could go on and on about other unusual beers, but I think that I will save some of those for a follow-up article on this same topic on another day. I am a really big fan of the Travel Channel’s “Bizarre Foods” show and like the host of that show, I strongly encourage a similar approach to drinking unusual beer as he has for unusual food… if it looks or sounds good, they only way to find out is to drink it!

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