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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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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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.

Stacey has been communicating with our national trade group, the Brewers Association, who said the TTB guy (and apparently there is just one guy that approves all the labels!) is reasonable and suggested that we talk with him to see how things can go from here… which may just include having approval for our former Scurvy label (the Brewers Gone Wild! version) rescinded!

Sometimes, it can be difficult to navigate the shoals between implying that a beer is good for you, and bad for you.

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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.

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As to risqué alcohol beverage labels, there is no end in sight.

On the left is Rumpmeister Liqueur, made by Colorado Pure Distilling, in Lakewood, Colorado.

On the right is Snowbunny Ale, made by Hub City Brewing Company, in Stanley, Iowa.

If TTB will approve a shorter dress, we’ll . . . be surprised.

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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.

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Melchior is ale brewed with seeds. So is Dogma.  The Belgian product has mustard seeds while the Scottish product is brewed with poppy seeds. Dogma also happens to include kola nut and guarana as well.

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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.

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In the last post, we showed a pineapple wine from Radee. As in the image above, Radee also imports a wine fermented from mangosteen.

The New York Times has a good introduction to the mangosteen in this video. It features an ethnobotanist and explains that this fruit was banned from the United States until a few years ago.

In other unusual ingredients, a Cooperstown, New York brewer makes an ale with mace, among other spices such as grains of paradise. Mace is similar to nutmeg but is not the same. The nutmeg tree is the source of both spices and is one of very few plants that produce more than one spice; nutmeg comes from the tree’s seed and mace comes from the seed’s cover. Ommegang’s Adoration Ale also features coriander and cardamom according to the label, and cumin according to the website.

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