Mad Beer Scientist

You may (or may not) know that my hubby enjoys the art of home-brewing.  Home-wha?

Home-brewing: Making one's own brew at home...usually beer, but not always.

Simple enough, right?  Well not only is it "simple enough" but it is also highly enjoyable to taste after all is said and done.  By next weekend, we should all be doing it.  ( I used to hate beer, but I've been encouraged to sample a taste of every beer Aaron has made and as a result I've really started to enjoy it...some more than others.)

Aaron's latest creation was a stout beer.  Just a basic, delicious and creamy stout.  But he wanted to experiment with the addition of flavors to enhance the stout experience, e.g. coconut stout, vanilla, etc.

So that was the plan- to set up lab in my kitchen to experiment with 6 different additive/extract flavors.  Oh! Here's Mr. Aaron now in the laboratory.

The Flavors were as follows:
1. Almond
2. Coconut
3. Vanilla
4. Anise
5. Rum, and
6. Jalapeno

Using a (brand-new AND sterilized) syringe, the method was to add drop after drop until an obvious but not overpowering taste was noted.  Each flavor was noted and numbered as was a "test sheet" to record the results of the testing.

Afterwards, we dove into the tiny samplers and found what pleased our humble palates.  We found an obvious NO! (helloooo Anise- you is nasty...) some so-so and "meh's" and one definite YES!

Surprisingly, the YES! was the addition of some jalapenos and their juice, with several shakes of salt.

Sound weird, gross and unlike anything you would be willing to taste? 

Mmhhmm.....I hear ya....I see where you are coming from because I came from there too.  But trust me on this....it is unexpectedly tasty!

And a surprisingly fun thing to do on a lazy day- in the comfort of your own home...

Go ahead.  Try it!  You may be surprised!