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In honor of National Beer Enthusiast Day we put our resident beer connoisseur to task with our simple yet delightful beer bread recipe. The twist? Substitute five distinctly different beers into the recipe.
Our findings? The beer really does matter! We expected the difference between the dark and light beers to be stark, but the nuance of each beer truly impacted the bread. Which is a testament to the simplicity of the recipe and the importance of choosing a beer for your personal preference.
For beer enthusiasts worldwide we present the results of our very scientific study below:
Described by the brewery as “a silky smooth hybrid style stout brewed with milk sugar and oats” we found the bread to have a strong, dark smell that filled the room. The texture was perfect with a crunchy crust and chewy center. The bread had a subtle sweet flavor and finished with a quick dash of bitterness, very similar to the tasting notes we found while sipping the beer.
This reviewer’s favorite of all five breads thanks to the fruity aroma and salty finish. Odell describes Sippin Tropical as “pineapple, passion fruit, and tangerine, and balanced by a touch of Himalayan pink sea salt” and we picked up on the pineapple right away when we cut into our mini loaf. While the bread failed to showcase the fruity flavors (we didn’t get much in the way of sweetness) what was left behind was a slightly salty finish. This is the beer bread for those who don’t like beer.
This puts the beer into beer bread, winning the designation of the bread being the best representation of its beer counterpart. The most pungent of all the breads we baked, this smells more like pilsner than it does bread. And the beer flavor starts right at the first bite and sticks around til the very end. To be fair, this seasonal packs a punch and is not your traditional pilsner. Crooked Stave is best known for their sours but they certainly made a statement with this beer — which you’ll echo when choosing this beer as your mix in.
For home bakers looking for the most traditional iteration of beer bread look no further than the trusty lager. Known for their traditional brewing methods, Bierstadt Lagerhouse produced this beer in collaboration with Finn’s Manor using only ingredients sourced from Mexico. The result is a refined lager, and after baking with it — the most practical beer bread in our arsenal. This bread smells like walking into a brewery and tastes exactly as it smells. This is what beer bread is supposed to taste like.
This Wyoming-based brewery aptly named the killer bees blonde ale after the heavy dose of honey added during the brewing process — which is readily apparent in the drink and in the bread. The sweet, nectary smells come out before the first bite and continue through each deliciously chewy munch finished with a very subtle note of hoppiness to remind you that this is, in fact, beer bread. This bread runs in perfect parallel with the beer itself and we feel is best paired together, perhaps with a bit of honey butter if you have a sweet tooth.
