After a hard week at work, what’s better than kicking back with a refreshing beer? Well beer brewers across the world have been tinkering with the basic recipe to produce some unusual and downright nasty sounding beers!
Elephant Dung Beer - The Japanese brewery Sankt Gallen introduced a brand new beer – made with coffee beans that had passed through an elephant! No joke, the beer was released to the eager Japanese consumers on April Fool’s Day 2013 in a strictly limited quantity. Described as more of a coffee stout, the beer sold out in minutes. With both a sweet and bitter taste, the bottles had a cute elephant image on the label complete with a poop trail!
Every country has its own ‘national’ beer – how many can you name? Explore the beer of every country on our map guide; Around The World In 80 Beers
Shellfish Stout – Yes you’ve guessed it, this beverage is brewed with actual shellfish. From the Sharp’s Brewery based in Cornwall, UK, oysters, cockles and mussels are added to create a truly unique taste. In fact this brewery is pretty pioneering and a couple of years ago launched 52 unique beers, including Bacon beer, Barley Tikka Vindaloo and Heston's Offal Ale (containing real offal and based on Heston Blumenthal’s’ love of combining unusual ingredients). This is the same brewery that brings us Chalkys’ Bite, which featured on our blog; The 12 Most Beautiful Beer Labels Around The World.
Sam Adams Utopias – This beer is not for the faint hearted at 50% ABV! Ranked by Guinness World Records as the strongest beer in the world, this knocks spots off commercial spirits in terms of alcoholic strength. With a maple-syrup taste coupled with a malty aftertaste, this is one beer to sip slowly!
Cave Creek Chili Beer – If you like it hot then this beer is for you. With a whole real chilli pepper in every bottle, this has the potential to blow your head off. Brewed in Arizona, USA, maximum recommended consumption is just one or two bottles. Sounds like a great pairing with a tasty Vindaloo!
Bilk – Fancy a beer made with milk? In a novel way to use up surplus milk in Hokkaido, Japan, brewery Abashiri Beer came up with the idea to produce a beer that is one third milk. With a delicious fruity taste, the beverage was designed to appeal particularly to female drinkers.
Lindemans Kriek Cherry Lambic – If you like your beer sweet and highly carbonated, then this cherry concoction is for you. The Belgian beer is a rich dark red and is akin to cherry-ade you used to drink as a kid. Great for lazy summer afternoons.
Dog Beer – No this is not a weird beer made from actual dog. This is a beer brewed especially for dogs to enjoy – after all why should humans have all the fun? From the Australian company Paws Point, the Dog Beer is beef flavoured and alcohol-free so man’s best friend can join you at the pub.
