Our Take On Tea Beers

We put coffee in beer so why not tea? A recent article from the Brewers Association titled “Reading the Leaves: Do Tea Beers Have a Bright Future?” explores the topic.

You can read the whole article here, but essentially it says:

*A wave of new beers incorporating tea have been released across the U.S. since the start of the year

*Tea in beer is trending

*Beverage industry mash-ups are also “in”

*Experimenting with new ingredients like tea opens the door to new beer drinkers

Our thoughts on the article:

“Interestingly, I just had a tea beer this last weekend. http://www.thebruery.com/beer/girl-grey/ . It was definitely interesting, and a neat concept. Overall, 7/10, the almond taste just didn’t sit well with me in combination with the tea and the traditional belgian characteristics.” – Rikki

“I have never tried a tea beer but it seems like an interesting concept.  I’m not a fan of throwing things into beer just to follow a market trend it would be interesting to know how it affects the beers stability.” — Jake

Do you see Iron Horse ever branching into trying this style maybe as a pilot batch?

“I have actually tried lobbying in the past to Tyson to make a best bitter with some earl grey leaves as well, but I haven’t tried too hard to convince him. The thing is, using the right type of hops (especially some english varieties, and New Zealand for the really juicy fruit like) there can be a great potential for tea like flavors, so why use adjuncts?” –Rikki

“This would be fun to play around with on a small scale batch but as with anything that isn’t an IPA the market for tea beers will probably slowly move over to something else.  At least its not glitter.” — Jake

“I don’t foresee IHB trying anything like this… but I would love to be proven wrong about that.” — Sabrina

Do you think this will be a short-lived trend?

“I think the whole concept of trends in craft beer is going through a change. Because there are so many breweries out there, the trends will probably keep around, just going from region to region, reemerging much like when kids suddenly draw those s things.” –Rikki

“I think tea beer could remain trendy for a while. With so many craft breweries popping up, everyone is scrambling to do something that stands out, and I think this is one more iteration of that.” — Sabrina

What do you think? Have you tried a tea beer? Would you?