No one asked for it, but mustard beer is a thing. And you can find it in North Carolina.
Not even beer is safe from the turmoil of 2020.
Craft brewery Oskar Blues has teamed up with French’s mustard for the cookout collaboration no one asked for.
Beer mustard already exists, but this is not that. Instead Oskar Blues and French’s are making a mustard beer, a hazy golden wheat beer brewed with lime, lemon, tangerine, passionfruit and a not insignificant amount of yellow mustard. The beer clocks in at 5.2% alcohol.
Oskar Blues, one of the county’s largest craft breweries, has a brewery and taproom in the Western North Carolina mountain town of Brevard. French’s makes probably the most recognizable mustard in the world, squeezed out of a crayon-yellow bottle.
Their new mustard beer will debut Aug. 1, National Mustard Day, both in Oskar Blues taprooms in Brevard and Colorado, and for sale online at beer retailer Craftshack. And if you’re game to try making mustard beer at home, Oskar Blues has put the recipe online for homebrewers.
Now, we’ve all been there, of course. Sitting a dozen rows back at a baseball game, hot dog in one hand, beer in the other, when, in mid-bite, a gloop of yellow mustard slips from the dog and lands with a splash in the beer. No one would discard a $12 beer over a little mustard.
But neither would we clamor to buy it in six packs.
French’s said the beer is a drinkable doubling down of the yellow mustard ice cream it made last year.
“French’s enjoys creating new curiosity around a flavor that has been a staple in homes for over 115 years,” said Jill Pratt, chief marketing officer for French’s, in a release. “The incredible reaction to last year’s release of our mustard ice cream showed us how far people are willing to go to savor this favorite condiment. We promise this French’s Mustard Beer will not disappoint either.”
Some might say, correctly, that mustard is the only acceptable condiment for hot dogs. It’s tangy and spicy and sometimes sweet or fruity. Few, if any, would call it quaffable, though there is that saying about not being the one who knocks without trying.
“We’re stoked on bold flavors at Oskar Blues Brewery and we never shy away from a challenge,” said Oskar Blues head brewer, Juice Drapeau, in a release. “With French’s Mustard Beer we elevated the Classic Yellow Mustard flavor with tangy lemon and lime to create a tropical wheat ale I’d pair with a loaded hot dog on the hottest day of the year.”
Unfortunately for mustard beer, the N.C. State Fair has been canceled this year, where it might comfortably and happily pair with yard-sized corndogs and deep fried Twinkies.
