Like the tea industry, the beer market is enjoying a period of extreme creativity. Like tea drinkers, beer drinkers now expect a wide array of flavors that reflect a mixture of ethnic backgrounds, flavor profiles, and aromas. Both tea and craft beer consumption have been on the rise in recent years, so it only makes sense that brewers would put them together with inventive tea-beer hybrids. Here are a few beers infused with tea that we think are worth toasting:
1) Yogi Beer
This beer from Texas-based Rogness Brewing Company counts black tea among its ingredients, joining cinnamon, clove, ginger, cardamom, and black pepper to create an exotic, spicy, and bitter mix of flavors. The 5.2% ABV (Alcohol By Volume) beer comes in 22-ounce bottles or can be served on draught. Rogness suggests pairing this beer with “bold” Asian dishes such as curry and tandoori chicken. This Indian-inspired beverage also boasts notes of caramel, and judging by the name, we think it’s a great post-yoga treat.
2) Chamomile Wheat Beer
This beer from Beaver Brewing Company blends the calming power and lovely scent of chamomile flowers with cracked and torrified wheat, malt, fuggle, and hallertau hops to create a distinctive beer with 4.2% ABV. Made in a nanobrewery in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, each beer is crafted by hand in a 1.5 barrel system. You can try out this herbal tea-infused beer onsite at the brewery’s restaurant/brewpub in Pennsylvania, or email dan@beaverbrewingcompany.com to order your own batch of the artisan beverage.
3) Sah’tea
This beer from Dogfish puts a tea spin on a classic 9th century Finnish beer known as sahti, combining black tea and juniper berries for a modern take on a beverage that Vikings enjoyed centuries ago. Dogfish promises, “The spicing is subtle and balanced, and Sah’tea is a highly-quaffable, truly unique brew with a full mouthfeel.” The New Yorker’s Burkhard Bilger wrote about Dogfish’s Sah’tea in his article “A Better Brew: The Rise of Extreme Beer,” describing Sah’tea as follows:
“…The tea and spices in it hovered politely in the background, leaving the yeast to run the show. Cloudy and golden, with a lush flowering of bananas and cloves, it tasted like something a trader might have sipped a century ago, standing in a colonial market in Ceylon, with open baskets of tea and spices all around. It wasn’t an extreme beer by any stretch, and it certainly didn’t taste Finnish. But it was a time capsule nonetheless.”
Try it for yourself and see if you agree!
4) Kombucha Beer
On-trend kombucha gets in on over-21 fun with this collection of kombucha-based Triple Goodness beers from United Vibration. Organic, gluten-free, and vegan, each beer is raw and contains 30-day brewed Kombucha. Flavors include: Raspberry, Ginger, Bourbon Peach, and K.P.A (Kombucha Pale Ale).
5) Par-Tea Pale Ale
Prism Beer Company wanted to create a pale ale that was “approachable” and “not to bitter,” and turned to whole leaf Orange Peko tea to achieve the combination. With a modest 5.5% ABV, this Par-Tea Pale Ale is a flavorful alternative to a standard pale ale. Prism recommends combining this beer with lemonade for an extra sweet refreshment.
