Beer Me Chicken is perfect for summer barbecues
With summer upon us, millions of Americans will be drinking beer, eating chicken, and washing down said chicken with even more beer as they host summer barbecues. Many many of those millions will be taking that combo a bit further by making Beer Can Chicken, which some feel is the ultimate combo of the two. Could this dynamic duo of the grill get any better? A major player in the bird game believes it can.
Popular poultry purveyor Perdue has teamed up with Manhattan brewer Torch and Crown Brewing Co. to produce Beer Can Chicken Beer, a beer specifically made to make beer can chicken. Your reaction may be the same as mine, "What is beer can chicken?", so let me quickly rewind before I get into this very niche beer by Perdue.
I love to grill and I love beer even more, yet I had never heard of Beer Can Chicken. Making this variety of bird is as easy as it reads. The grilling 101 recipe is as follows...crack open a can of beer, grab yourself a chicken, shove the can of beer up the rear of the bird, stand it up on the grill, and let it cook. There's a debate as to whether or not the beer actually does anything to the flavor of the chicken but it's a culinary offshoot that originated somewhere in the South during the early 1980s, has spread nationwide since, and is growing in popularity. Although not as dangerous, you could say it's the summer version of a Thanksgiving fried turkey. Now for the actual beer.
What Torch and Crown came up with for Perdue's Beer Can Chicken Beer is a flavorful summer ale that thankfully for consumers does not taste like chicken or any part thereof. The BCCB is made with citra hops, honey, rosemary, thyme, and pink peppercorn. It kind of sounds like the ingredients for a solid holiday bird, right? Well, Perdue isn't just strictly marketing this as a drinking beer. They are going full in on the beer can chicken angle. In the BCCB introductory video on the website, Perdue gives its own little tutorial on making beer can chicken using a Perdue chicken of course. They even go as far as to sell a kit that includes a "throne" to place your bird on for grilling. Now you can really be Lord of your manor this summer with your own chicken throne.
On a less chicken-focused tip, Torch and Crown has three locations in New York (SOHO, Union Square and Montauk). When they're not making beer to sit inside a chicken on a grill, Torch and Crown has their own well-rounded beer list. Their year-round mainstays include Almost Famous IPA, Tenement Pilsner, and Intersect Hazy Session IPA. I can personally vouch for the Almost Famous IPA which I had two summers ago tailgating for a Black Crowes show in New Hampshire. The New York brewery also has an active seasonal rotation of brews that include the usual pale ales, IPAs, sours and lagers yet they do branch out a bit from the norm with an offering like the maibock BLOOM, a spring German beer.
Perdue's 5.5% ABV summer ale retails for $14.99 per six-pack, plus shipping and handling. There's a two-pack maximum on orders which can be made on Beer Can Chicken Beer's own website. I know my curiosity has peeked. If yours is as well and you order up a sixer remember to save some for yourself and as always, beer can chicken responsibly.