The adventurous brewers at Delaware's Dogfish Head Brewery have managed to put a little bit of outer space into their latest small-batch brew. The Celest-jewel-ale, which will only be available at the brewery's Delaware brewpub, gets its "earthy" depth of flavor from crushed bits of lunar meteorites, which are steeped in the batch like tea. To top it off, the beers are served in koozies made from material from real space suits.
2. Angel City Brewery, Avocado Ale
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It's not news that Californians love their avocados, but it is news that an L.A. brewery has decided to take its love for the creamy fruit (yes, it's a fruit) to the next level. Angel City's Avocado Ale is a kolsch-style beer made especially for the brewery's own Avocado Festival. It's brewed with — you guessed it — fresh avocados, plus lime, cilantro, and garlic, making the beer the perfect/redundant complement to a bowl of fresh guac.
3. Pizza Beer Company, Mamma Mia! Pizza Beer
While the idea of guzzling down some "liquid pizza" might sound bizarre, that's exactly what this beer promises. The brew is created by steeping an entire margherita pizza in the mash in order to yield a beer that bursts with oregano, garlic, and tomato flavors. Despite its poor ratings on Beer Advocate, many reviewers say Mamma Mia! Pizza Beer was curious enough to warrant a taste.
4. Rogue Ales, Beard Beer
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Bearded brewmaster John Maier went rogue with the creation of his limited-edition Beard Beer, which is brewed with wild yeast that Maier cultivated from his very own beard. Sound disgusting? Apparently, the beer is actually quite good, and contains notes of pineapple and ripe bananas.
5. Mikkeller ApS, Beer Geek Bacon
Bacon-flavored products may be a bit of a gimmick, but Danish madcap brewery Mikkeller's Beer Geek Bacon beer delivers a smoky, subtly meaty imperial stout that would probably make for a lovely boozy breakfast.
6. Flying Dog Ales, Pearl Necklace Oyster Stout
This Maryland brewery's unconventional stout is made with local oysters from the Chesapeake Bay. While the beer mercifully abstains from adding any obviously fishy flavor, reviewers note that the stout does have subtle notes of brine and salt.
7. Twisted Pine Brewing Company, Ghost Face Killah
Despite bearing the name of a Wu-Tang rapper, the ghost that this beer is referring to is actually the ghost pepper, otherwise known as one of the hottest peppers on the planet. This beer promises "extremely spicy warmth like a straightjacket," so consider yourself warned.
8. Mikkeller ApS, Beer Geek Brunch Weasel
On the surface, Brunch Weasel is a simple imperial coffee stout. But the oddity is in the coffee — the beer is brewed with kopi luwak, or "civet coffee," a special brew made with the beans of coffee berries that have been eaten and excreted by the Asian Palm Civet. Kopi luwak is actually rare and expensive in its own right, so a bottle of Beer Geek Brunch Weasel isn't cheap (a 16.9 fl. oz. bottle costs about $15).
Despite its scatological associations, the beer's stellar reviews on Beer Advocate suggest that Brunch Weasel is a world-class coffee stout... that just happens to be made with coffee mitigated through a weasel's colon.
9. Pipeworks Brewing Company, Pastrami On Rye
Unlike Pizza Beer Company's quite literal approach to brewing beer with a special ingredient, Pipeworks' Pastrami On Rye does not actually steep a pastrami sandwich in its mash. Instead, the beer is brewed with a blend of herbs and spices typically used to cure pastrami, yielding a complex but not unpalatable brew that has notes of mustard seed, peppercorn, and cloves.
This article was first published on Aug. 23, 2013 and last updated on Oct. 3, 2013.
Samantha Rollins is TheWeek.com's news editor. She has previously worked for The New York Times and TIME and is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.
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