New Fried Chicken IPA Beer From Veil Brewing

Beer brewed using fried chicken? It's an outside-the-box bucket idea that will likely elicit some confusion, but that's precisely what two of the country's more innovative craft brewers decided to try recently. The result is Fried Fried Chicken Chicken, a limited-edition brew flying into the (chicken) fingers of beer lovers.

The idea was hatched in Richmond, Virginia, at The Veil Brewing Co.—which specializes in hazy IPAs and hopped sour beers—in collaboration with Evil Twin Brewing, whose founder Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø is known to flavor beers with unconventional ingredients, including frozen pizza and even money. Inspired by Jarnit-Bjergsø's first experience of eating fried chicken at Cracker Barrel, the two breweries used two full trays of chicken tenders to create their new double dry hopped IPA.

Now, you're probably wondering, Does it actually taste like chicken? Poultry accounted for only less than .4 percent of the mash contents, so it definitely won't taste like you're swinging back a bucket of Colonel Sanders's secret recipe in liquid form. You can however expect this beer to be similar to other increasingly popular New England- and Northeastern-style IPAs: a hazy appearance, silky mouthfeel, lush citrus flavors and aromas, and a lower perceived bitterness.

The Veil Brewing Co. will be selling Fried Fried Chicken Chicken starting this week in 16-ounce cans ($18.50 for a four-pack) at its brewery and taproom over in Richmond. Given beer drinkers' insatiable appetites for both hazy-style IPAs and unusual flavor mash-ups, expect this small-batch release to fly the proverbial coop quickly.