How To Prep Your Brew When Making Beer Can Chicken

At some point in the mid-to-late 20^th century, the bond between beer, barbecue, and chicken grew closer than ever. This occurred when someone — most likely in the American South — decided to insert a can of beer inside the body cavity of a whole chicken and cook them together to enhance the flavor and moistness. Whether it actually does this remains an active debate, but the popularity of the cooking method is not in question. Most make the point that you shouldn't just slip any can of beer into a chicken and expect success. For top results, it's important to prepare the right brew in the right way.

Firstly, you want to open the beer or it can explode. That's also one reason many chefs cut the top off the can entirely, to allow the steam to escape more easily and infuse the meat of the chicken more evenly. Be sure to remove half the beer from the can too — ideally by pouring it down your own gullet — as the remaining half creates enough effect while also providing enough weight to keep the bird standing upright. Enhance the flavor even more by adding herbs and spices to the beer, including thyme, sage, oregano, and rosemary. And it can't hurt to give the can a wipe-down before placing the bird atop it to prevent any contamination of dirt, dust, grease, or other.

Alongside the debate of whether the beer can actually does anything for the chicken is another over the type of beer that works best. The short answer is lager, as the lighter body and subtle flavors won't overwhelm those in the chicken and rub. Other light beer styles, such as Weiss, Kölsch, pilsner, and even a light ale can work well too. The main thing to avoid is a heavy or high-alcohol beer; such as stout, porter, and IPA, which may impart too much sweetness from the malt or bitterness from the hops. If the alcohol content is too high — about 5% ABV — that may translate to drier chicken than you wish. How the beer is stored may also make a difference, as a beer that's gone off might turn the chicken into skunk. 

Chefs are experimental by nature and happy to break convention in pursuit of a unique flavor. That might mean rolling the dice and slipping in a pumpkin ale, lime lager, Irish stout, crème ale, or a Scotch ale. Purdue even paired up with a brewery to produce a beer specifically designed for the process. Beer Can Chicken Beer, released in May 2023, is honey double-citrus summer ale infused with lemon and orange puree, honey rosemary, thyme, sea salt, and pink peppercorn. Other backyard chefs are even going beyond beer, creating versions with seltzer and soda in the can instead. Changing out the bird happens, too, as in beer can duck.