The world of craft beers and micro brewing means that the choice of beers is constantly expanding. If you’re willing to step out of your comfort zone and try something new, you never know what you might find!
Abashiri Blue Beer
Yes, you read that right. Japanese brewers have created a beer with a distinct blue colour, claiming to the “the Bluest beer in the whole world.” It looks a bit like a melted blue slushy drink, but thankfully doesn’t taste like one. This unique brew uses local flowers and seaweed to get the striking colour, and also contains water from melted icebergs and Chinese Yam to give it a strong head resembling a chunk of ice floating atop of your blue brew.
Stuffed Squirrel Beer
Scottish brewers BrewDog created one of the world’s strongest and most expensive beers, dubbed End of History. These 55% ABV brews are bottled and presented in a stuffed stout for £500 or a grey squirrel for £700. Beer aficionados ensured that the rare 12 bottles were soon sold out, and I’ll never know if I can handle the world’s strongest brew.
Peanut Butter Coffee Beer
I love a rich and flavourful porter and this offering from Willoughby Brewing Company in Ohio certainly delivers, with a special peanut butter and chocolate flavour. Think Reese’s peanut butter cups, in a beer. Okay, maybe that isn’t the most appetizing analogy, moving on.
Fruit Beers
There’s lots of these around but two of the most renowned are Banana Bread Beer from UK brewers Well’s Young and “Hell or High Watermelon Wheat Beer” from 21st Amendment Brewery in San Francisco. I’ve tried the banana bread brew and it’s actually really tasty, with a nice banoffee smell and sweetened flavour. Hell or High Watermelon is one of the breweries popular summer season beers, made from a classic American wheat beer which is fermented using fresh watermelon, to give it a “kiss of watermelon aroma and flavour.”
Avocado Beer
After spending a year in Southern California I can assure you that the obsession with avocado is a real thing, so it’s no wonder Angel City Brewery in Los Angeles created an avocado-flavoured brew. It’s heavy on the avocado with hints of red pepper, garlic, lime and cilantro to create a guacamole flavour. Not one for me, but I can see the LA appeal!
Mushroom Beer
I’m not a fan of mushrooms at the best of times so I really can’t imagine this is in a beer. Brewed with Japanese shiitake mushrooms, the Terra-Saurus from Epic Ales reportedly has a tinge of mushroom earthiness but isn’t quite as potently different as you would expect.
…and the not so wonderful
Pizza Beer
I hear that this is a thing, but that it isn’t a successful one. Mashed-up Margherita pizza filtered beer isn’t the only odd offering from these brewers; they’ve also created pizza beer pizza and pizza beer sausage. I love pizza, and I love beer, but this is too much.
Bull’s Balls Beer
What started out as an April Fool’s joke actually became a real brew. Wynkoop Brewing used local bull testicles for their Rocky Mountain Oysters’ stout. There’s only really one thing to say about this one – Why?
Crushed Pig-Parts Beer
Again, my immediate response is to question why you would do this, but the Magalitsa Pig Porter is apparently an award winning beer! Right Brain brewery crushed four pig heads and three bags of bones into the fermenter for this one, in order to give it a “big, pig mouth feel” and smokey flavour. Beer and pork is a well-known combination, but I’m not sure how I feel about them being this closely combined.
Worm Beer
No. No. And another big fat no. Siren Craft Brew created the ‘Wormhole’ to celebrate the glory of insects in a one-off special brew. I’m not feeling the glory of a beer brewed with mealworms, and would happily stay away from this one.
As fun as this article has been to write, it was missing samples. My inbox is always open to offers if you’ve got a unique new beer for me to try (providing there aren’t any mashed up animal parts involved!).
