On paper it sounds the perfect idea. Combining our love for marmalade and beer in what brewer, Innis & Gunn claims is a world’s first spreadable beer.
That traditional hangover cure, the hair of the dog, can sometimes be a tad difficult to stomach.
But now a Scottish brewer has come up with the ideal solution; a spreadable beer that you can smear over your toast instead.
Innis and Gunn’s Marm & Ale, which was launched in Scotland earlier this year, is thought to be the world’s first beer-infused spread.
The Dundee brewery’s boozy concoction was made by adding its oaked aged IPA to marmalade during the boiling process, creating a hoppy and zesty conserve.
The independent brewer has also unveiled a new marmalade flavoured IPA using a percolator, a piece of technology used to infuse beers with flavours by circulating ingredients through the beer during the brewing process.
Marmalade & Beer
Scotland has a long standing relationship with marmalade, with Dundee believed to be where the first marmalade factory in the UK was established.
Master brewer Dougal Sharp said they liked to “push the boundaries of what’s possible with beer through innovation and experimentation”.
“That’s why we’ve been hard at work brewing a marmalade IPA and even creating spreadable beer for adventurous foodies,” he said.
The beers were launched to celebrate the brewery’s second own bar and restaurant the Scottish Beer Kitchen in Dundee, the first of which won the New Casual Dining Design Concept of the Year Award at the Casual Dining Awards.
The company opened the first Beer Kitchen in Edinburgh in 2015, serving a range of craft beers alongside a menu of pub classics and low and slow style dishes with a focus on creating beer and food pairings.
“We are educating diners about the nuances and complexities in beer that they might be otherwise aware of,” said Sharp.
New Beer Kitchen
Dundee’s new Scottish Beer Kitchen has been designed in what the brewer says is “Scandi-Scottish” style. It will serve a range of craft beer along with a specially curated menu featuring “chopped and charred” and “low and slow” style dishes as well as pub classics, with a special focus on beer pairings.
“With a focus on pairing food and beer, we are educating diners about the nuances and complexities in beer that they otherwise might be unaware of,” explained Sharp. “Our staff will let them know what type of beer best accompanies a meaty stew for example or what they should sip on to draw out new flavours in sweet desserts.”
Innis and Gunn has installed two five hectolitre tanks serving unpasterusised lager from the brewery at the site, as well as an open cellar with oak-aged cask beers. Customers will also be able to take home Innis & Gunn beers in two-litre growlers.
With a pot of marmalade for their morning toast.