Beer Hot Poker Taste Test & Demo

Some videos are pure fun. This is one of them. Matthew and his co-host finally get to try a gadget that has been on Matthew's mind for a long time. It is a beer caramelizer, which is a fancy name for a hunk of metal you heat until it glows red and then stick into a glass of beer. It sounds insane. It has real history behind it.

A very old tavern trick

Matthew points out that this is not some modern inventor's stocking stuffer. In old tavern culture, probably American though maybe English too, people drank something called a hot flip, a meal in a glass. You poured some ale into a mug, added a little rum, maybe molasses or sugar or spices and an egg, then dunked a hot poker in to heat the drink and cook the egg. They promise to try that version at some point, but this video is about the beer itself.

The three beers

They picked three very different beers and poured an untouched sample of each so they could compare. Is this thing worth it, does it enhance the beer, or does it ruin it?

• A double barrel stout from Private Press, one of my favorites, which is a 17% ABV mega stout and barley wine blend with tons of residual sugar. They expected caramelization here.
• An Estonian barrel-aged imperial porter that spent time in port and cherry casks, around 11 to 12% ABV, with oxidative fruity notes and plenty of residual sugar too.
• Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, a much drier, hoppier beer at about 5%, chosen because it is the kind of thing most people already have in the fridge.

The company that makes the poker recommends two to three seconds in the glass, with no swirling, so that is what Matthew does. He also admits the ideal setup would be to reheat the poker for every beer. He is working with a thousand degrees of metal, so keep it somewhere safe afterward. The beers foamed and frothed immediately, though the pale ale less so.

What they tasted

On the 17% stout blend, the poker gave a richer molasses character and a smokier aroma, a bit like a burnt marshmallow. Matthew's first reaction was that it was not very different. His verdict was that it needed a longer hit. The porter reacted much more dramatically. It bubbled all over the place and came out smelling strongly of burnt marshmallow and smoke, with a flavor to match that the stout did not show.

The most surprising observation came when they tasted the poked beers back to back with the originals. The poked porter tasted significantly less alcoholic and less burny. Matthew wondered whether some alcohol had cooked off, which fits with what he knows from making mulled cider or beer, where heating the drink gets you into distillation territory. He usually adds a little extra liquor to compensate. He also recalls doing this once at a brewery with a spiced Scotch ale, where the poker caramelized the sugars around it and warmed the beer a little without making it hot. They had pokers ready in a pizza oven so each mug got a fresh one, which he says is clearly the better way.

The pale ale was the loser. Matthew said the hops tasted like they had aged three months in three minutes, like a beer that sat on a shelf at room temperature, with stale old hop character. It did not come across as smoky, because there is not nearly as much residual sugar to burn or caramelize. Heat and hops do not mix once the beer is made.

The takeaway

This trick works with malt-forward beers that have plenty of residual sugar. A hop-forward beer is a poor choice. They also want to try leaving the poker in much longer, maybe three seconds, six seconds, nine seconds and eventually the egg. The poker Matthew used is available at 1571f.com.

It is also good tasting practice. Taste the beer first, then again after the change. Describe the differences in words. Caramel and burnt sugar are flavors worth knowing for the Certified Cicerone exam. Our Certified Cicerone course covers how to build that skill.

Watch the video above to see the poker glow and the foam erupt. Matthew also runs virtual beer tastings for date nights and corporate events. Email him at [email protected].

Cheers! –Chris