Photo courtesy of Thrillist
“We take our beer very seriously. We’re artists. Our people in the brew house are artists,” said Wynkoop spokesman Marty Jones, the idea man behind the peculiar concoction. “So, there was some reservation about what this would do … but fortunately our brewers had the balls, if you will, to step up and make the beer.” (My conversation with him at the Wynkoop brewpub was filled with many puns like this.)
People thought it was nuts (get it?) to use bulls’ gonads as an ingredient for a new beer, even within the brewery. It actually originated solely as an April Fools’ Day gag, when the folks at Wynkoop produced a video for our national day of practical jokes that announced a new, albeit fictitious, brew made with the main ingredient of the region’s infamous dish of gimmicky cuisine: fried bull testicles, aka Rocky Mountain oysters:
“It was a lot of fun, and we thought that was that. We did a video. It achieved its goal: we got a bunch of laughs,” Jones told me. “But then the day we sent [the press release] out, several writers and editors came back to me and said that it’s ingenious and ‘I’d like some samples.’ And I’m going, ‘It doesn’t exist.’” Patrons of the brewpub in Denver even asked for it, and Wynkoop repeatedly had to explain that it was all a big joke.
And so, this April Fools’ prank inadvertently turned out to be the brewery’s biggest publicity stunt. To continue that ride, they decided to cause a ruckus by actually producing Rocky Mountain Oyster Stout for the 2012 Great American Beer Festival last October, which turned out to be a good marketing strategy since it’s hard to stand out in a crowd of hundreds of talented breweries.
To make a long story short, the popularity of the gimmicky beer went viral in the beer community, and many bars around the country began to request it. Wynkoop then decided to brew it in eight-barrel batches at a time for the season, and see how it goes from there. There have even been talks to distribute it via online resellers because so far, everyone from the Today show to Anderson Cooper have had nothing but good things to say about it.
Good things, you ask? Isn’t it, after all, a beer brewed will bulls’ balls? Well, the thing is, any taste of the testicles is overpowered by all the other flavors: roasted barley, chocolate malt, coffee and hazelnut — not that I know what bull testicles in this form are supposed to taste like.
Only 25 bull testicles — each cut into slices about a half-inch thick and then roasted — are added to the mash tun during the mashing process of brewing for an eight-barrel batch. If you do the math, that translates to 25 testes for 1,984 pints of the beer, or 1.26% of bull testicle extract per pint. With that small percentage, it’s hard to know what the bull testicles actually do for the beer’s overall taste with everything else going on in the recipe, but perhaps their presence contributes to the stout’s extra smooth, velvety texture, or accentuates its nutty tones — pun intended.
In the end, if you didn’t know of any “secret ingredient” and simply had this stout without any reservations, Wynkoop’s Rocky Mountain Oyster Stout is a good beer. A really good beer, in fact, especially if you’re into stouts. Head brewmaster Andy Brown has created a delicious brew that isn’t too sweet or too bitter, which finds a balance with coffee, chocolate, nuts and smoky flavors. And at 7.5% ABV, it’s got a bit of kick.
Final Verdict: 5 (out of 5) stars.
Beer tastes are really dependent on the individual beer drinker, so this concoction may or may not be for you. Personally, I prefer stouts and porters over hoppier beers like IPAs, and therefore Wynkoop’s Rocky Mountain Oyster Stout is right up my alley — even more so since its bittersweet taste was unexpected. Who cares if there’s a ballsy marketing gimmick to it? It’s simply a great stout — and that’s no bull. The bull is in the beer, after all.
Erik Trinidad is a food and travel writer and author of Fancy Fast Food: Ironic Recipes with No Bun Intended, based off his popular food humor blog.
Title…
[...]below you will find the link to some websites that we believe it is best to visit[...]…
Title…
[...]just beneath, are several entirely not associated websites to ours, however, they’re surely really worth going over[...]…
Title…
[...]Here are a few of the web sites we recommend for our visitors[...]…
Title…
[...]The info mentioned inside the post are a few of the best available [...]…
Title…
[...]please go to the web pages we comply with, such as this one particular, as it represents our picks in the web[...]…
Title…
[...]one of our guests recently encouraged the following website[...]…
Title…
[...]one of our guests recently proposed the following website[...]…
Title…
[...]please pay a visit to the web sites we stick to, such as this one particular, because it represents our picks from the web[...]…
Title…
[...]one of our guests a short while ago encouraged the following website[...]…
Title…
[...]very few web-sites that transpire to be comprehensive beneath, from our point of view are undoubtedly nicely really worth checking out[...]…
Title…
[...]The information mentioned inside the report are several of the very best offered [...]…
Title…
[...]one of our guests just lately recommended the following website[...]…
Title…
[...]please visit the web pages we adhere to, which includes this one particular, because it represents our picks in the web[...]…
Title…
[...]although sites we backlink to below are considerably not related to ours, we feel they’re really really worth a go by way of, so have a look[...]…
Title…
[...]very couple of internet sites that take place to become detailed beneath, from our point of view are undoubtedly effectively really worth checking out[...]…
Title…
[...]just beneath, are a lot of entirely not associated websites to ours, however, they’re surely really worth going over[...]…
Title…
[...]one of our guests recently encouraged the following website[...]…
Title…
[...]here are some hyperlinks to internet sites that we link to because we assume they are really worth visiting[...]…
Title…
[...]one of our visitors lately suggested the following website[...]…
Title…
[...]check beneath, are some completely unrelated web sites to ours, having said that, they may be most trustworthy sources that we use[...]…
Title…
[...]usually posts some really fascinating stuff like this. If you are new to this site[...]…
Title…
[...]Here are some of the sites we recommend for our visitors[...]…
Title…
[...]we like to honor a lot of other world wide web web pages around the web, even though they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Under are some webpages really worth checking out[...]…
Title…
[...]check below, are some absolutely unrelated websites to ours, having said that, they are most trustworthy sources that we use[...]…
Title…
[...]Here is a good Weblog You might Locate Interesting that we Encourage You[...]…
Title…
[...]usually posts some very exciting stuff like this. If you’re new to this site[...]…
Title…
[...]check beneath, are some absolutely unrelated web sites to ours, having said that, they are most trustworthy sources that we use[...]…
Title…
[...]very few websites that take place to become in depth below, from our point of view are undoubtedly properly worth checking out[...]…
Title…
[...]The information talked about inside the report are several of the top available [...]…
Google…
[...]we prefer to honor lots of other web web-sites on the web, even though they aren?t linked to us, by linking to them. Beneath are some webpages worth checking out[...]…
Title…
[...]that could be the end of this article. Right here you will locate some internet sites that we think you will enjoy, just click the hyperlinks over[...]…
Title…
[...]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine several unrelated data, nonetheless definitely really worth taking a look, whoa did 1 learn about Mid East has got much more problerms as well [...]…
Title…
[...]here are some hyperlinks to web sites that we link to mainly because we feel they’re really worth visiting[...]…
Title…
[...]although web-sites we backlink to beneath are considerably not connected to ours, we really feel they’re essentially worth a go by means of, so possess a look[...]…
Title…
[...]one of our visitors lately suggested the following website[...]…
Title…
[...]Every as soon as inside a although we pick out blogs that we read. Listed beneath would be the most up-to-date websites that we choose [...]…
Title…
[...]below you’ll find the link to some websites that we believe you need to visit[...]…
Title…
[...]that would be the finish of this write-up. Right here you’ll locate some web-sites that we believe you’ll appreciate, just click the hyperlinks over[...]…
Title…
[...]Sites of interest we have a link to[...]…
Title…
[...]just beneath, are many absolutely not connected web sites to ours, having said that, they may be certainly worth going over[...]…
Title…
[...]always a huge fan of linking to bloggers that I appreciate but don’t get a great deal of link really like from[...]…
Title…
[...]very handful of internet sites that happen to become detailed beneath, from our point of view are undoubtedly nicely worth checking out[...]…
Title…
[...]just beneath, are numerous absolutely not connected internet sites to ours, nonetheless, they’re certainly worth going over[...]…
Title…
[...]below you will locate the link to some web-sites that we consider you ought to visit[...]…
Title…
[...]one of our guests just lately suggested the following website[...]…
Title…
[...]we came across a cool website that you simply could get pleasure from. Take a appear if you want[...]…
Title…
[...]usually posts some very exciting stuff like this. If you’re new to this site[...]…
Title…
[...]we like to honor many other net web-sites around the internet, even when they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Underneath are some webpages really worth checking out[...]…
Title…
[...]we came across a cool website that you simply might delight in. Take a look if you want[...]…
Title…
[...]Here is a superb Blog You may Obtain Exciting that we Encourage You[...]…