Move over hops?
Photo courtesy Trinity Brewing
Yes, there are oddball adjuncts appearing in beers today—Stilton cheese culture and beard cultures, civet poop coffee and elephant poop coffee, bull testicles and dung-smoked whale testicles—but as much as cucumbers seem weird to throw in a beer, once shock wears off, deft and delicious beer remains.
I’m not sure which is more astonishing: that there are several beers made with this vegetable or the fact that cucumbers aren’t veggies at all.
When does a collaboration beer between two brewing companies only include one brewery? When the partner brews coffee (CraftBeer.com, Aug. 2012). More and more, coffee beers are brewed with help from a craft brewery’s local roaster who likely understands their individual needs and personalities, for the ultimate friends with beanies.
Though hops often do the heavy lifting for beer’s aroma and flavor, when coffee is added, it contributes quite the pick-me-up.
This beach-themed Beer Traveler was my first submission taking over this long-running column and as such represented a dual honor. It’s fair to say beer + travel were already front-of-mind for me. Now if only I could rack up enough miles to fly front-of-plane. Served up for this theme: Orange County (CA), Virginia Beach (VA), Honolulu (HI), and Tampa/St. Petersburg (FL).
Brian Yaeger: Beer Writer 