Has anyone tried putting garlic in a beer?
I have noticed some are putting peppers in. At first I thought it would be disgusting. Then I tried one and thought it wasn’t to bad.
I am now thinking about adding garlic to an IPA. Anyone tried this before??
I’ve never tried it , but I think its a really interesting Idea. Especially if you could brew something close to a Stone IPA / Enjoy by beer. Those brews are full of Onion / Earthy notes that I find very enjoyable. Would make for some great burps too. Would like to know if you decide to go with this and the outcome. Cheers !
I have never tried a garlic beer. I would be willing to try it sometime. Obviously it would not be for the faint of heart, and depending on the amount, you might not be able to taste anything else for a day or two! My advice would be to go really easy on it. A faint hint might be more tasty for a full pint then a garlic bomb.
Can’t say I’ve ever brewed one but a few years ago I sampled a garlic beer made by Brew Rm of New Haven CT. As I recall from speaking with Jeff, the brewer, it was based on their amber ale with copious additions of roasted fresh garlic cloves. The beer was super garlicky, with a nose like garlic bread fresh from the oven. The base beer had a generous amount of crystal malt and its rich, malty body was able to stand up to the clear-the-room garlic flavor and aroma. It was not for the feint of heart but it was just as intended, a real beer with intense garlic impact. You couldn’t drink a large quantity but I think it was what a garlic beer should be if it should be a beer at all. In other words, make it ballsy on the garlic and give a decent base beer to support the herb.
I recently found someone making garlic wine & immediately wondered about garlic beer, though I was thinking something malty & dark myself.
I love garlic but not interested in a beer with it. Vinegar, heck yeah. That said, some thoughts with regard to brewing with it: I do a far amount of canning and pickling and it is important to boil raw garlic a bit to release the sulfur compounds. So skip late additions or adding raw garlic post fermentation. Roasted and other processed garlic would be fine. Incidently, I have found “granulated” garlic to the be the best flavor to cook with. Light years ahead of garlic powder. Lastly, for an garlic IPA I would pick some hop varieties well known for being offensive but should meld with the garlic. Summit and CTZ comes to mind.
That just sounds disgusting to me. Don’t we spend a lot of time and effort to keep these types of off flavours out of our beer? What’s next? Ummm think I’ll brew a corn flavoured beer 
@ScaldedDog Chicha is actually not that bad and has a great history too.
Surprisingly enough, to me, chicha doesn’t taste a whole lot like corn at all. More like a sour, spicy soda.
Yea I know…Dogfish Head did it…but just because it can be added to beer doesn’t make is good I’m just not a big fan of adding weird stuff to beer like chewed corn or garlic or peaches or bacon. IMO most great flavours can be developed by simply changing the amount and types of malt and hops. That said I may try the all grain chocolate milk stout recipe from NB in a couple of weeks.
I tried a garlic beer a few years ago at a restaurant in Helsinki that specializes in everything garlic. It was a lighter beer (lager or blond ale base) with an obvious but not overpowering garlic presence. Interesting, but not something I would want to drink more than a small glass of.
Garlic wine on the other hand is fabulous when used in cooking.
Yea I know…Dogfish Head did it…but just because it can be added to beer doesn’t make is good I’m just not a big fan of adding weird stuff to beer like chewed corn or garlic or peaches or bacon. IMO most great flavours can be developed by simply changing the amount and types of malt and hops. That said I may try the all grain chocolate milk stout recipe from NB in a couple of weeks.[/quote]
Adding “weird” stuff to beer has created some of the best beers I’ve ever tried. Peach Lambics or a sour cherry Kriek. Even the Maple Bacon Chocolate porter brewed by Funky Buddha was outstanding for breakfast over an early morning campfire deep in the Blue ridge mountains served with bacon and eggs. Just because it can be added to beer doesn’t mean it’s going to make a bad beer. Cheers
