German beer purity law be-damned, modern brewers can’t be confined by the basic four ingredients of beer: water, barley, hops and yeast. Today’s brewers are visionaries, creative thinkers who want to put weird stuff in their beer and see what happens. We’re not just talking about cocoa nibs and jalapeno peppers here, people. We’re talking about salt, oysters, mango coffee, frozen Hawaiian pizza and money. Yes, paper currency. Peaks and Pints pours five craft beers with off the wall ingredients for our flight today, which we call Craft Beer Crosscut 9.5.18: A Flight of Off The Wall Ingredients.
Ninkasi Whiteaker Series No. 4 Raspberry Lime Gose
4% ABV, 10 IBU
Gose derives its name from the river in Germany, located in a mineral-rich region centered around the town of Leipzig. In the Middle Ages, it’s where gose beer got its start, according to the German Beer Institute. It’s one of the few beer styles in the world that calls for high-salinity water, which historians attribute to the high salt content in the city’s water. After a dormant period, gose beers were brought back to life after the fall of the Berlin Wall, as Leipzig could once again divert some of its limited grain resources back to brewing beer. Ninkasi Brewing made a gose as part of its Whiteaker Series: a rotating lineup of small batch beers named after the Eugene, Oregon, neighborhood in which it brews its beers. Pleasantly sour and tart, Whiteaker Series No. 4 Raspberry Lime Gose is a traditionally-crafted unfiltered wheat ale. A dash of sea salt and coriander are added at the end of the boil, followed by fresh raspberries and lime. With a rosy hue and balanced acidity, this beer finishes dry and crisp.
Atwood Ales Dark Harbor
5% ABV
Located just 18 miles north of the burgeoning Bellingham brewery scene, on the outskirts of a scenic seaside town, is Blaine, Washington’s first, and oldest, brewery — Atwood Ales. The unique setting provided by a 100 year old farmhouse and barn and the surrounding acreage is not only visually compelling, but also provides countless opportunities to directly incorporate estate and locally grown agricultural and natural ingredients into Atwood’s small batch beers. It’s a family-operated farm and brewery. Josh brews the beer. Monica takes care of sales, marketing and distribution. Josh’s parents, Stephen and Leslee Smith, co-own the brewery, and Monica’s parents (Steve and Nancy) are involved as well. In the fall and winter, major low tides occur at night, leaving Blaine local oyster farmers to brave the “Dark Harbor” to work the tide flats and harvest their bounty. Atwood’s “black ale with bivalves” is a collaboration with Drayton Harbor Oyster Company, whose oyster beds lie just 2 miles directly west of the brewery. A subtle, underlying, caramel wave carries a slight brininess all the way to the roasty shores of barley town.
Stillwater Collaborations Are For Lovers
16% ABV
Stillwater Artisanal was started in 2010 by Baltimore native Brian Strumke, whose past life as an internationally renowned electronica DJ and producer strangely led him down a path to crafting some of the world’s most unique and highest rated beers. And now, in 2018 Stillwater Artisanal STILL stands tall. Brewed with Denver nano brewery Sleeping Giant Brewing, Collaborations Are For Lovers is an imperial stout brewed with mango, coffee and vanilla. Coffee, indeed, followed by overripe mango, Baker’s chocolate, earthy roast with vanilla notes adding a nice sweetness to the craft beer. Yes, the coffee and mango combination is weird, but all these flavors coming together do a great job of hiding the high 16 percent ABV.
Evil Twin Big Ass Money Stout
17.1% ABV
In perhaps the gimmickiest beer collaboration of all time, Evil Twin Brewing and popular Norwegian brewery Lervig Aktiebryggeri have taken inspiration from our college needs and made a beer with frozen Hawaiian pizza and money at Westbrook Brewing in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. They use real Norwegian banknotes. Even though you’d think the whole pizza-money combo would create its own special version of grossness, the final product boasts rich coffee notes, smoke, tobacco and sweetness. The mouthfeel is super viscous and thick. It’s a sipper, dessert-type beer.
Decadent Ales Double Toasted Marshmallow
9.5% ABV
Decadent Ales brewed a double IPA dry hopped with a blend of Madagascar vanilla bean, candied turbinado sugar and candied coconut sugar. Yeah, weird, but tasty. The aroma is super intense vanilla pods with a lot of grain, alcohol marshmallow (somehow), pure caster sugar, a dose of yeast and some more sugars with a good dose of quite resinous hops at the tail end. This full-bodied IPA begins with rich vanilla, sugar and malt flavors. Orange-y hops make a brief appearance before ending with mild marshmallow, resin and a bittersweet kick.
