I would probably get some shucked oysters, drain out the liquid, pat them dry, bread them and fry them, then serve on a bun with tartar sauce and a side of slaw.
Oh, and take the reserved liquid, add a little water and boil it briefly to sanitize it, then dose it in the keg.
Or I might get the oysters and steam them, then serve them on the half with a little lemon and tabasco, maybe some butter. Use the steaming water the same as above, dosing in the keg.
Once you have a feel for the quantity of liquid you want to use, then just toss it in at the end of the boil to save yourself the trouble.
I like oysters fried or barbequed, but yes shooters are best, followed by a drink of porter or stout. The oyster stouts I’ve tried have not been good IMO.
The only one I’ve ever had is Yard’s. You should try it at NHC next year. It tastes like a dry stout. Which is great… if you like dry stout… which I do.
The historical info I’ve seen suggest that traditionally the oysters weren’t used at all. The shells were added to the kettle to increase the Ca levels. That sounds a hell of a lot better to me than adding oysters!
I had a very nice one in Asheville this summer at a seafood restaurant with a sabco brew magic system. The oyster flavor adds some brininess and quite a bit of texture.
I’m in Seagrove, FL right now and enjoyed some raw oysters last night. I agree with Jeff that oysters and the brine they contain will add flavor to the stout. We know that stouts and porters compliment the flavor of oysters (thus Guinness sponsoring the world oyster shucking championships) and it makes sense to incorporate the components of that flavor into a stout. I’m not sure that the flesh adds anything to the beer, but the fluids that could be expressed from the oysters probably do. I agree with Denny that oyster shell could add some Ca, but the opportunity to dissolve that relatively ‘bound’ calcium seems limited. I’m betting that some effect of the oyster shell could also be the salts that might still be coated with.
I just don’t agree, raw oysters are fine if they are kumamoto or something like that, but some of the big ones we get are best fried or grilled. If I have to chew it a bunch to shoot it, I’m out.
I think you guys are right about the shells being used as opposed to the flesh. I’ve had a couple of “oyster” stouts, the oysters had a minimal impact. Not sure what they did though.
The beer I had in Asheville used oysters in the boil, but I can’t remember how many. Seems like 20 in 10 gallons…. The beer was good enough to have two pints with dinner.
Try this You searched for - Brew Your Own
I brewed this with a few changes. Smoked 2# of 2 row with alder. It came out super. Took some to my HBC meeting for a open judging finished 2nd to a killer mead with a 40 something score. They are still talking about it 2 months later. Mine ended up at 6.9%. The only people that didn’t like it were the ones that wouldn’t taste it.
Threw 4, live Dungeness crabs in the boil pot with about 20 minutes left. Once the floated to the top, we pulled them out. Also added about 2tbs of Old Bay in a ten gallon batch. This is for a “strangebrewfest” held close to me each year.
We’ve been drinking it the last couple days, and it’s actually very good. So far, all who have tasted like it. (or they are just being nice)
The hardest part was cleaning the outside of the crab.
That’s bold! Sounds delicious! I would love to try that idea myself some day… 8)
Oyster stouts haven’t been super common for me to try, but the two I have tried, I liked. They were mostly a dry stout with just a tinge of oystery-ness. Too much oyster would be pretty bad, IMO, but a little bit adds complexity.
Oysters should be done in a shot glass with cocktail and hot sauce :
I recently had a bottle of Marston’s Oyster Stout. There are no oysters in the beer, but they claim it goes well with oysters. I enjoyed it with smoked pilchard.
It was tasty, but I guess I was expecting the flavor contribution to add more. It was a good stout with a bit of a slight chalky/salty taste to it.
“Marooned on Hog Island has an ABV of 7.9% and was brewed using Magnum and Willamette hops and top fermenting ale yeast, Pale Malt, 120L Crystal Malt, Rolled Oats, Carafa Malt, Chocolate Malt and White Wheat, along with the most special of ingredients: 450 pounds of Hog Island Sweetwater oyster shells.”
+1 to the Marston’s - a good beer. I also had another “Oyster Stout” ( name eludes me), which made sure to mention that it contained no oyster components, that it was just a stout brewed to compliment the flavor of oysters. Don’t think I 'd be as thrilled to try one that included it !