B E E R P L U S F O O D E Q U A L S Y U M LOCAL PRODUCT HIGHLIGHT by James Frazier

Local product highlight BEER PLUS FOOD EQUALS YUM

by James Frazier

There is something special in the world when you can combine two great products to create something new and different and totally amazing. In this instance, since we are The Brew, we are talking about local craft beer being used in local food products. Two of my favorites in Oklahoma City are Boozy Jerky and Rescue Dog Hot sauce. These two companies started with great products and a love for Craft Beer. We’ll get into the details in a bit but it’s clear that we are the winner when beer and food come together. I have been a proponent of cooking with beer for many years. There is something about the many different styles of beer out there and the process that they go through and how that process then affects the flavor of what it’s added to. If I were to be a scientist, it would be a food scientist, but I am glad I’m not so that I have time to introduce you to a couple of great products.

Boozy Jerky has hit the Oklahoma stage hard in the last year or so and I can’t be more excited about it. I love beef jerky, it’s one of my favorite snacks. My pet peeve with jerky is when I can’t tell if the texture is that of a plywood box or dried meat. Boozy has perfected the art of creating amazing textures. The texture is soft, but not too soft with loads of flavor, which leads me to the second pet peeve I have when it comes to beef jerky. I like flavor and I’m not big on salt, so when jerky tastes like salted cardboard, I’m out. Boozy ’s jerky in pretty much all of their flavors is top-notch. They really went through a culinary process to find the best flavor combinations in order to blend with the flavor of the meat. Then you have the beer component, which only improves the flavor profile, turning it into a world-class product.

I could talk all day about the many flavors of Boozy Jerky that I love, but for this topic, I want to focus on one. The Everything Rhymes with Beef Jerky made with Roughtail Brewing Companies ERWO (Everything Rhymes with Orange for the uninitiated) ERWO is a juicy and flavorful IPA that works seamlessly to go with the Pineapple and Orange Teriyaki marinade of this jerky. It’s got a sweet citrusy flavor that catches you off guard at first, but then you can’t get enough of it. Finding this Jerky in the wild is getting easier every day, as they are hustling to get this delicious jerky out there, but you should be able to find it at most breweries, and quite a few other places that you can find on their website BoozyJerky.com.

Rescue Dog Hot Sauce is a product that can tend to fly under the radar, but we happened to find them during one of our Brewery

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visits. Immediately you can’t help but like Tim Heitzman and whichever of his rescue dogs he has with him at the time. As a hot sauce guy and a dog guy and I guess a beer guy, Rescue Dog Hot Sauce stood out to me and I had to try all of his flavors, and find out a little more about this guy. What started out as a birthday gift, turned into my new obsession. Tim decided to make a special hot sauce for his little brother, made way too much of it, and decided to give it to a few friends. Turns out his brother wasn’t the only one that loved the sauce. Tim started making more sauces and experimenting with different ingredients. As he spent time in Breweries it was a no-brainer to include beer in some of the recipes. Which has brought us to this story.

Rescue Dog has perfected several amazing recipes and it seems the fan favorite OKC Craft Beer for creating great food, Roughtail ERWO is back at it again. This sauce has the New England Style IPA with a load of mandarin oranges with Manzano and habanero peppers. I would consider it a medium sauce with citrus notes up front and that slow back of the throat burn on the end. The two new Local Craft Beer flavors both include Roughtail beers and have some amazing flavors. The Ole Dilly Bastard, The ODB for short, has Roughtail’s Dill or No Dill and is a sauce for serious pickle lovers. The Mango Unchained has Roughtail’s Sancho beer which is a Fruited Gose with a lot of mango flavor and gives a nice kick from the habanero, Manzano, and Arbol peppers. You can find Tim and either Maya or Bindi at pet adoption events, farmer’s markets, or breweries around the Oklahoma City area, and when you do, give the pups some love, and the sauce a try.

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