Serve in a teku at 6-12 °C
What it tastes like
Specialty beer is the drawer for everything that does not fit elsewhere. It covers beers brewed with an unusual fermentable such as rice, honey, maple or jaggery, beers built around a spice or flower, and beers made with an unusual process. Because it is a catch all, it has no single taste. A saffron lager and a 15 percent barley wine both belong.
What holds it together is a way of judging. A specialty beer should taste like a good base beer plus the thing on the label, and the special ingredient should be clearly there without bullying the rest. If a brewer says tulsi, you should find tulsi. If you only find tulsi, the beer has failed.
That makes the category a playground for brewpubs. It is where you find beers made with local produce, odd sugars and family recipes, and where a brewer shows whether they understand balance or are just chasing novelty.
Style profile
- Look
- Any colour, clarity or head, set by the base beer. Some special ingredients tint the beer, as saffron does gold or hibiscus does pink.
- Aroma and flavour
- A recognisable base style plus a clear, identifiable special ingredient or process character. The two should read as one beer, not two flavours side by side.
- Mouthfeel
- Set by the base style, from light and spritzy to thick and warming. Added sugars can thin the body; lactose or oats fill it out.
- Ingredients
- A conventional malt, hop and yeast base, plus the defining addition: unusual grains, honey, jaggery, maple, spices, flowers, tea, or a special process such as wood ageing.
In India
This is where Indian brewers have the most to say. Saffron, kokum, tulsi, gondhoraj lime, jaggery, black rice and Darjeeling tea have all found their way into beers here, and a local ingredient gives a brewery something an import cannot copy. Ask what the base beer is before you order, because a specialty beer can be anything from a light lager to a strong ale. Delicate spices and flowers fade in heat, so drink these fresh.
At the Indian table
Food pairings contributed by Anuradha Rao
- Kashmiri yakhniA saffron or spice led specialty beer echoes the fennel and dry ginger, and stays light enough for the yoghurt gravy.
- Paneer tikkaSmoky, lightly spiced paneer is a forgiving partner for most specialty beers and lets the special ingredient show.
- Goan prawn balchaoA tart, fruited specialty beer cuts the vinegar and chilli heat.
- Kesar pedaSaffron and milk sweetness meet a saffron or honey beer and make the shared ingredient obvious.
Brewed in India
- Saffron Lager, Kati Patang source