Over the last several years bacon has leapt from the meat aisle to nearly every segment of the food and beverage market. There’s bacon-infused Bakon vodka (not to be confused with Bacon flavored vodka), bacon candy, and even (kosher!) Bacon Salt. Friar Bacon Bottle Conditioned Smoked Bock beer, brewed by Cincinnati’s Listermann Brewing Co., looks to fall into the same category as the latter, as Friar Bacon merely emulates bacon’s flavor without containing any actual bacon. Like Bacon Salt, Friar Bacon certainly capitalizes on bacon imagery. Note the four slices of porcine goodness framing the label, and the punny name that seems as much an ode to a bacon fryer as it is to playwright Robert Greene’s magi-comic sixteenth-century friar. Beer Advocate gives Friar Bacon a grade of “B” and notes it does contain a certain mysterious element of smoked meat flavor. Bacon beers are slowly moving from the concept stage to the product stage. The Aecht Schlenkerla Marzen Smokebeer at Piece Brewery and Pizzeria in Chicago, according to a friend, contains no bacon but “has a distinct bacon aroma, a subtle (not overwhelming) bacon flavor while drinking, and an unmistakable (but not at all unpleasant) pork fat aftertaste.” And still another brewer is planning to...
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KBS Gives No Relief
Back when we saw the Scurvy label, we were a bit surprised to see much discussion about disease, on a TTB label. This one goes quite a bit further in the same direction. It mentions “rheumatism, neuralgia, sciatica, lame back, lumbago, contracted muscles, toothache, sprains, swellings, and all manner of distress” — after emphasizing that this will “give relief” from none of those. Instead, it’s “good for everything a stout ought to be good for.” It is tough to judge whether this is funny and playful, or among the types of messages that TTB ought to block. This breakfast stout is brewed with chocolate and coffee, by Founders Brewing of Grand Rapids, Michigan. We could not find the approval here, but did find it here.
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Nut Beer
First there were Beer Nuts. Now there is Nut Beer. Uber Goober is beer made with “roughly a handful of peanuts in every glass.” It is made by Short’s Brewing of Elk Rapids, Michigan.
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Vas Deferens Ale
Here is Caldera’s seasonal release. It is Vas Deferens Ale. The text explains that it has “a little snip of this and a little snip of that.” “This is an extremely rare release, as this ale is not meant to reproduce.” For those who have been away from health class or Latin class for quite some time, Wikipedia tells us more about the vas deferens here. This ale is made by Caldera Brewing Company of Ashland, Oregon.
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It looks a fair amount like Tourment Absinthe, but this time around it’s beer. Or, more specifically, Tourment “Absine Refresher” Gargoyle Citrus is a malt beverage with wormwood and other flavors. The product is made by City Brewing Company of La Crosse, Wisconsin, and it has also been approved in a Bohemian Berry version. From time to time, TTB explains that there is no specific US standard for “absinthe,” so we wonder if it was really necessary to drop the TH out of ABSINE.
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Scurvy Re-Emerges
Now we learn that it’s not a good idea to name your beer after a disease, if you want to avoid controversy. Above is Tyranena Brewing Company’s Scurvy Ale Brewed with Orange Peel. TTB approved the label in 2008 and again in March of 2010. Beernews.org reports that it has not been easy:
Tyranena Brewing finally got label approval late this past week but not without some headaches from the TTB first. Here is the lowdown on what went wrong.
The following is based on one or more Tyranena newsletters.
The Government Is Back On My Nerves And Throwing Off Our Whole Schedule. … Yesterday, we were informed that the TTB rejected our new label… apparently they thought the name “Scurvy” together with the government-mandated Statement of Composition “Ale Brewed With Orange Peel” implies a health benefit from the consumption of the product.
Our new six packs were one the verge of being printed and fortunately we were able to stop them. We will be submitting a variation of the label hoping to get it through… but it is unknown whether it will meet their criteria… or how long it will take them to approve it. … Now our whole schedule is in disarray.
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