THAT EXTRA SPECIAL (AND SHOCKING) INGREDIENT Beer lovers thirsting for a cold one may just be drinking more than they bargained for. As well as water, malted barley, yeast and flavouring, there are sometimes hidden ingredients that will make your hair stand on end. When Guinness earlier this year announced it’s to stop using fish bladders in its brewing process, it caused quite a stir around the world. After all, you don’t often see ‘now with added fish bladder’ in its branding platforms. However, its decision revealed some of the other unusual items used in the production of beer…whether it be in the processes of clarification, flavouring or bottling. Oysters: One of London’s busiest pubs, the Porterhouse in Covent Garden, is famous for its stout brewed with oysters. It’s one of the pub’s best-selling stouts, with “the sweetness derived from fresh oysters shucked into the conditioning tank.” Perhaps the fact that oysters are seen as an aphrodisiac helps as well! Pizza: Tom and Athena Seefurth of Illinois in the United States have developed what can only be seen as a combo made in heaven – beer steeped with base, tomato, oregano and garlic, which is washed off and filtered into a brewpot, then brewed for ages while hops and spices are added, then filtered into a fermentation vessel and left there for a couple of weeks. Yum…? Cock: In the 17th century, roosters were used to brew ale, mixing the beer with the jelly or minced meat of a boiled cock to make ‘cock-ale’. Not really used these days, which is good news to anyone’s ears. Cannabis: German beer brand Cannabia prides itself as the first beer beverage “of mankind containing hemp brewed in Germany.” It came into existence after Germany changed its laws to allow hemp to be grown in the country as long as it was used for commercial purposes and not to get people high. Elephant’s Colons: Before you get too carried away by animal rights chants, let’s get this straight. A Japanese brewery took the whole ‘elephant dung coffee’ idea and developed it further to produce Sankt Gallen, an “earthy and smooth’ blend of beer that is brewed using coffee beans passed through an elephant’s digestive system. Tempted? Beards: Boy, would ZZ Top like this one! Rogue Brewing in the States took nine follicles from brewmaster John ‘More Hops’ Maier’s beard that hadn’t been shaved for 38 years to the lab, finding the perfect yeast there to produce beer. Goat’s Brain: Dock Street Walker was released last year in time for the Walking Dead finale, which had the special ingredient of goats’ brains to make it extra spooky. Dock Street Brewing Company reckon the beer, which used the animal organs after roasting them over hot coals before adding to the liquid mix, has “intriguing subtle notes of smoke.” Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh: If a brew is akin to the Second Coming, the Lost Abbey Brewery has one product that will set your heart racing. Gold in colour and “bittered with the bark of frankincense,” this seasonal beer is made every Northern winter using the gifts brought by the three kings to baby Jesus. At 12 per cent, it could be the perfect way to get merry this Christmas. B R EW T E C H WORLD'S OLDEST BEER Ever wondered what the oldest beer in the world would taste like? According to Queen Victoria Museum and Art gallery staff in Australia, it’s light and fresh. Salvagers of a trading ship sunk around 1797 off the coast of Sydney discovered a completely intact beer bottle in the shipwreck in 1990, so scientists from Australia, France, Germany and Belgium were assembled to cultivate a live yeast sample. The team isolated an unusual three-way hybrid with links to bakers, brewers and wine yeast, and used it to brew beer using recipes from the period. The resulting beer, called Preservation Ale, is light and fresh, according to project leader David Thorrowgood. “It’s genetically different to hundreds of yeast species it has been compared to from Australia and around the world. Traditionally beer was brewed in open vats. This yeast is consistent with historic brewing practices,” he says. BEER EVENTS BEERVANA BLOW YOUR MIND Westpac Stadium, Wellington August 12 and 13, 2016 Beervana.co.nz OKTOBERFEST 2016 Shed 10, Queen’s Wharf, Auckland September 16, 2016 Oktoberfestnz.co.nz BREWERS GUILD ANNUAL CONFERENCE AND TRADESHOW Auckland October 6 to 8, 2016 Brewersguild.org.nz BREWERS GUILD NZ INTERNATIONAL BEER AWARDS 2016 Langham Hotel, Auckland October 8, 2016 Brewersguild.org.nz DUNEDIN BEERFEST Dunedin November 12, 2016 Dunedinbeerfest.co.nz www.foodtechnology.co.nz 53
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