flavored malt beverage

This beer has a rather uncommon and unlikely combination of ingredients. The peppercorns are no great surprise, but the alcohol beverages with chia seeds seem to be few and far between. Wiki reports that chia is an Aztec word for oily, and these seeds contain large amounts of oil, omega-3 fatty acids, and antioxidants. (Un)Real El Camino Black Ale is also brewed with fennel seed and mission figs. It is a collaboration among several brewers and is bottled by Stone Brewing Co. in Escondido, California. If you happen to prefer your chia with a little less fennel and alcohol, you will be delighted to know that you can buy a variety of Chia Pets here (including the one showing President Obama). Leaving the purported health benefits aside, if the same seed is good enough for Chia Pets and beer, it deserves more attention.

Just as the name suggests, lemongrass is a grass with a citrus flavor. It would appear to be well suited for flavoring beverages, and not just shrimp and scallops. Loft makes an organic lemongrass liqueur, in Portland, Oregon. Magic Hat makes Circus Boy beer brewed with lemongrass, in South Burlington, Vermont. SakeOne makes Moonstone Coconut-Lemongrass Saké, in Forest Grove, Oregon. FoodPair explains that:

lemongrass is an aromatic herb used in Southeast Asian cuisines. Because of its pungent flavor, it is used in small amounts. Common uses include soups and curries. The ingredient is most often used fresh, but can also be dried and used in powder form. Another popular popular use of lemongrass is in teas.

These beer products look a lot like spirits, don’t you think? They have a spirits-related brand name, common cocktail names, spirits-shaped bottles and an alcohol content that is high for beer. The website goes so far as to describe the first one as a “traditional margarita.” The other versions are Hurricane, Pina Colada and Long Island Iced Tea. In a bout of writing that would not make Don Draper proud, the Pina Colada back label would have you believe this product, going for a few bucks per bottle, is the next best thing to having your own island. If so, I wouldn’t want to draw whatever is third best. Perhaps mxologi is an Anheuser-Busch response to the very successful line of malt beverages under the Smirnoff name. After all, the Smirnoff products certainly suggest spirits, and also happen to be made with sucralose.