Tamarind Chutney Porter

“Interesting” you say?  So do I.  I never heard of tamarind until recently, which I’ve learn is a tropical fruit indigenous to tropical Africa.   This beer will be available after 4PM this Wednesday (Dec 7th).  We put the tamarind chutney (which is also spiced with I don’t know what, but I think cayenne pepper is involved) as a mainstay on our salad bar.  The reason I chose to flavor the porter with this was (a) it was accessible, (b) I really was digging the dark fruit flavors which are complimentary in dark ales like porter.   I get flavors of tart cherry and raisin with hints of spiciness when I taste the tamarind chutney alone, and these flavors come through in the porter as well.  For those that want to learn more trivial facts about this fruit:

• Technically the fruit is an indehiscent legume, but usually referred to as a “pod”
• The arabic term “tamar hind” means “Indian Date.”
• used for medicinal treatments including: colds, constipation and chronic diarrhea
• fruit pulp was used to polish brass in temples
• tree can be used for ornamental or for cash crops
• a mature tree can produce upto 350lbs of fruit
• ring-tailed lemurs consider it a favorite, their diet can consist 50% of the tamarind
• leaves of the tree can be eaten as a vegetable
• popular in Mexico to flavor agua frescas
• used in western culture to flavor Worcestershire sauce and HP sauce
• there are a set of restaurants in New York that use the name
• there is an art institute in New Mexico that uses the name

Homebrewers are crazy and have probably already tried this unique combination at some point, but I may be the first brewery to commercially offer a tamarind porter, you might want to stop by and give it a try.

Prost!