It seems like every week a local story pops up about a microbrewery that’s created a new type of beer with a surprising flavor such as bacon or chocolate.
While bacon-flavored anything sounds exciting to me, among more discerning drinkers there’s a distinct stigma attached to flavored beer. All the serious beer-drinkers I know—the types who take a sip of beer then murmur things like “hm, that’s very smooth” or “wow, that one’s hoppy,”—tend to avoid ordering the types of brews that promise things like “pineapple undertones.”
Yet there are always flavored beers on the list, even at the places like Spitzer’s Corner, a gastropub on the Lower East Side in Manhattan, that take the list quite seriously. I asked Spitzer’s General Manager Tim Sheehan if he had any guidance regarding flavored beer.
Sheehan described what beer enthusiasts already know—that beer is made from malt, which is usually made from barley, and the beer’s flavor depends mostly on the kind of malt used and how it’s treated. Most beer-makers roast the barley, for example, while others smoke it, which can give it that bacon-y flavor.
Other brews are treated with a heavier hand. “There are beers that actually put stuff in it such as cocos nibs or chili to really accelerate the flavor,” said Sheehan. “Magic Hat #9 puts apricots in for a fruit flavor,” but for the subtler beers, the flavors come from the malt.
I asked Sheehan to name three flavored beers—one fruity, one chocolate, and one bacon-flavored—that serious beer-drinkers should try. Here’s what he recommends:
Young’s Double Chocolate Stout:
“They actually do brew it with chocolate and it actually has a milk chocolate-y flavor to it. It’s good.”
Schlenkerla Helles Lagerbier:
“This is a lighter beer. Subtle flavoring, very drinkable. Their beers have this really smoky flavor that ends up tasting like bacon. They don’t actually put bacon in it but it gives it that flavor.”
Chelsea Brewing Company’s Blackberry Wheat:
“Fruit beers usually go too far and become too sweet but this one uses real, actual blackberry flavoring and it’s not terribly over the top.”
February 06, 2012 at 6:37 pm, nootch said:
Have had all three, and would recommend all three . Young’s Double Chocolate Stout is a world-class stout, and should be no secret to anyone who takes beer seriously. For widely-available stouts, it’s in an elite class. (See also: Rogue Shakespeare Stout, Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout, Hitachino Nest Espresso Stout, and Old Rasputin Imperial Stout (from North Coast Brewing.)
Chelsea Brewing often has some interesting stuff, and this falls into that category. Worth a taste, even if beers like this are not your “thing.” The Helles from Schlenkerla is a great helles, more smoky than one would imagine. I don’t get the “bacon” thing, never noticed that flavor in there. If you like smoky beer, try some rauchbier (German for “smoke beer”). Not too many are widely available, so this might take some digging around.
February 06, 2012 at 6:37 pm, nootch said:
Have had all three, and would recommend all three . Young’s Double Chocolate Stout is a world-class stout, and should be no secret to anyone who takes beer seriously. For widely-available stouts, it’s in an elite class. (See also: Rogue Shakespeare Stout, Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout, Hitachino Nest Espresso Stout, and Old Rasputin Imperial Stout (from North Coast Brewing.)
Chelsea Brewing often has some interesting stuff, and this falls into that category. Worth a taste, even if beers like this are not your “thing.” The Helles from Schlenkerla is a great helles, more smoky than one would imagine. I don’t get the “bacon” thing, never noticed that flavor in there. If you like smoky beer, try some rauchbier (German for “smoke beer”). Not too many are widely available, so this might take some digging around.
February 07, 2012 at 6:45 pm, Sarah SE said:
I'd definitely try the beer-flavoured one but dunno if I'd actually be able to finish it…
February 07, 2012 at 7:14 pm, Sarah SE said:
I'd definitely try the bacon-flavoured one but I dunno if I'd be able to finish it…
February 09, 2012 at 8:09 pm, Tim Ziobro said:
BACON FLAVORED BEER? What's next?
February 11, 2012 at 4:14 pm, Adam Gray said:
The double chocolate is great and I am a beer snob….
February 12, 2012 at 3:55 am, Billy Danger Lipsius said:
I WILL TRY THEM ALL. SOMEDAY.
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February 13, 2012 at 6:59 am, Travis Hnatiuk said:
Beer Snob…. how fucking perfect of an oxymoron the world could create. Fucking beer snobs. Get knocked out as I sip my PBR…. no one mentions the fact that these craft/microbrews cost 10$USD for a 6 pack. Fucking beer snobs…. it saddens me that there is such a term.. I hate American Domestics like Budweiser and Miller…. but god damn if beer hasn't became the new wine. Bunch of suburban 40 something douch wads taking an interest in beer…. fuk us all.
February 18, 2012 at 8:52 am, Colin Bennett said:
I don't understand what you're upset about…PBR is an "American Domestic" (Which is a fantastic redundancy, by the way, if you live in America). Also of course smaller batch-brewed beers would cost more…It's called 'supply and demand'. Furthermore, in order for beer to be 'the new wine' it would have to be younger than wine – which it's not. The Sumerians had a recipe for beer (technically a mead, but who's splitting hairs) years and years before wine came to prominence. The fact that people want to drink the best beer possible in their taste and mind is a good thing. In fact, it's a great thing. If you're going to spend your hard-earned money why wouldn't you want the best product you could buy?
February 20, 2013 at 4:34 am, Derek Greene said:
Colin Bennett, you obviously missed all the points Travis made, took what he said out of context, and/or are plain ignorant, maybe even intentionally replied as to imply he meant other then what was easy for even a non "beer or wine snob" to understand.
February 13, 2012 at 6:59 am, Travis Hnatiuk said:
Beer Snob…. how fucking perfect of an oxymoron the world could create. Fucking beer snobs. Get knocked out as I sip my PBR…. no one mentions the fact that these craft/microbrews cost 10$USD for a 6 pack. Fucking beer snobs…. it saddens me that there is such a term.. I hate American Domestics like Budweiser and Miller…. but god damn if beer hasn't became the new wine. Bunch of suburban 40 something douch wads taking an interest in beer…. fuk us all.
February 14, 2012 at 1:13 am, Tim Reisinger said:
I currently have the Young's double Chocolate in my fridge, mmmmmmmm.
February 18, 2012 at 8:54 am, Colin Bennett said:
Beer snobs love flavored beers! If all we drank was Miller/Bud/Coors or just "smooth" and "hoppy" beers as the author postulates – we'd probably lose it lol.
February 18, 2012 at 7:19 pm, Colin Barton said:
Short's Soft Parade deserves a mention, especially since it's ABV is around 8%.
February 22, 2012 at 2:12 am, Matthew Reece said:
Don't waste time with the Schlenkerla Helles. Go straight for the Rauchbier Urbock or Rauchbier Eiche.
November 10, 2012 at 10:29 pm, Kiernan Therriault said:
the marzen is the best
May 25, 2012 at 2:58 pm, No one is actually obsessed with bacon | Death and Taxes said:
[...] it for you, and you might act amped when you hear about bacon donuts or bacon cupcakes or bacon beer or bacon ladies with bangable bacon parts, but you’re not really amped.I’ll admit, I’ve had [...]
November 04, 2012 at 1:17 am, Harry Kuheim said:
I mix apple cider and Beer…
November 22, 2012 at 1:54 pm, Spencer Quimby said:
This list is not complete without Garrison Brewery's Raspberry Wheat.
January 03, 2013 at 7:24 am, Stephen Calebro said:
Did you purposely interview the least knowledgable beer manager in NYC?