I’ve tried some pretty unusual beers around the world, despite the fact that I don’t drink a lot and I don’t particularly like the taste of beer. I say I drink when I have to, and when I’m presented with a new dish or drink, I like to try it…within reason. One of the beers on this list definitely pushed the limit of my comfort zone.
Raspberry Beer
The first beer on this list probably isn’t that uncommon; it was just the first unusual beer I tried that I really enjoyed. I was on a date years ago when the girl I was with suggested we go to one of the McMenamins taverns in Portland, Oregon. The chain is known for its delicious, locally-crafted beers, and my companion said the raspberry beer was her favorite. I tried it myself and, for the first time, had a beer I actually enjoyed.
Since 1985, McMenamins have produced over 65,000 batches of beer between their 27 breweries. Raspberry beer is one of their more common flavors, although I’m sure there are plenty of even more unusual beers to try. Just another thing to add to the bucket list for my next trip to the Pacific Northwest.
Truffle Beer
In 2016, I was invited to a restaurant in Karlskrona, Sweden called Skeppsgossen. The proprietor of the restaurant was often unsatisfied with the quality of products delivered to his restaurant, so he regularly set off to make his own products, often to award-winning standards. He started with his own batches of coffee, created by himself in Italy. He went on to invent his own lemon gelato which won awards across Sweden. And finally, he invented his own truffle beer.
I tried all three versions of his truffle beer and found them very unique and nice. I would never have thought of truffle as a good flavor to mix with beer, but somehow he found a way. Granted, I didn’t finish all three glasses that were provided, but I had my fill along with the umpteen-course meal he served.
Whale Beer
Finally, I tried a beer in Iceland which definitely takes the award for the strangest beer ever. On my Ice and Lava Caves Tour in Iceland, the tour guide decided to make a detour to the top distillery in the country – Steðja. They make several different flavors of beer, all to German beer standards. Some of their stranger brews include a “latte” beer, lemon beer, strawberry beer, ginger beer, and their best-selling licorice beer. But the wildest beer ever is, believe it or not, a sheep sh*t-smoked whale testicle beer!
You heard me right. They take a 15-pound sausage made from fin whale testicles, smoke it in a small shack with sheep dung for a couple days, and then let it dissolve in a vat of beer. As strange as it sounds, it was a surprisingly good beer. I can only imagine the inventor thought they would have to be drunk to eat whale testicles, and instead decided to get drunk while imbibing them in the beer.
Would you try any of these beers?
I’m not a beer lover myself but I’d taste that rasberry or truffle beer. I’d pass on that last one! ?