It's September 28 and #NationalDrinkBeerDay is trending on Twitter. Raise a cold one to the art of brewing with these beers based on brains, Star Trek references and belly-button lint.
National Drink Beer Day is a very special day set aside to celebrate the consumption of fermented beverages. You don't have to settle for celebrating with just a basic brew. Check out these unusual beers and beer-related gadgets.
If you've ever wondered what Star Trek tastes like, you'll get at least a partial answer from a nice, tall, cold can of Klingon Warnog. It's a Dunkelweizen style with hints of banana and clove. That doesn't sound like a flavor profile built for a Klingon's battle-hardened palate, but let me remind you of Worf's love of prune juice. He calls it "a warrior's drink."
This is a photo of a guy's hairy belly. He's pulling out some belly button lint and depositing it in that beaker to help make Belly Button Beer, a 2016 special brew from Australian beermaker 7 Cent Brewery. The brewery describes it as "perhaps the first beer in the world fermented from yeast captured from the brewer's belly button fluff." Feeling thirsty yet?
If you enjoy drinking beer, then you might also want to consider wearing it. The ruffly Beer Dress from 2015 is crafted from fabric made using a bacterial fermentation process. Look a little more closely and you start to see the hop-flower inspiration for the dress design. It's wearable art with a fascinating origin story.
If zombies drank beer, they would reach for a bottle of Walker from Dock Street Brewing Company. Walker came out in 2014 and featured a very special ingredient: brains. The American pale stout was brewed with cranberries, wheat, oats, flaked barley and, oh yes, smoked goat brains.
Scottish craft brewery BrewDog turned to social media for the inspiration for its 2013 #MashTag brew. The final beer came about through internet voting on Twitter and Facebook as fans chose the style (American Brown Ale), name and label design. The resulting beer had high hops and a hint of hazelnuts and oak chips. Mmm, Twitter.
Would you like some high-frequency sound waves and oscillation to go with your cold brew?
The Fizzics gadget works with most standard beer bottles and growlers to add some extra fizz to the liquid. The idea is to give your packaged beer a fresh-from-the-draft taste, and CNET's reviewers found it worked well for some types. This image compares beer poured from a bottle (right) with the same type of beer run through a Fizzics system (left).
The Fizzics isn't the only gadget that wants to make your beer bubblier. Say "cheers" to the battery-powered Sonic Foamer, which first hit US shores in 2013. You set a glass of beer on the pad, push a button and let its ultrasonic frequencies send a shock wave of bubbles up through your beer. The Sonic Foamer claims to boost the aroma and, in turn, your enjoyment of the beverage.
You can drink beer. You can wear beer. Now consider washing your hands with beer. Beer soap from ManHands Soap smells like beer and comes in a decidedly beery shade of yellow. All brewpubs should have this soap in their washrooms.
SodaStream might want to consider changing its name to Soda&BeerStream with the release in 2016 of its Beer Bar countertop beer-making gadget. The beverage machine mixes a beer concentrate with carbonated water to produce an insta-brew. It's not a totally new concept, but SodaStream's brand recognition could really expand the beer-on-demand market.
Sometimes it's not about what's in the beer, but rather what the beer is in. Celebrate Halloween or harvest time with a visually impressive pumpkin keg. It takes a little DIY effort involving a carving kit, marker, spigot and plenty of beer. Some of that pumpkin flavor may rub off on the beer, so choose your beer accordingly.