An Oyster Stout Shout Out

Vintage Guinness Ad for Oysters and Beer

Have you noticed oyster stouts popping up on bar menus?  The oyster craze shows no signs of slowing … and oyster stouts are what's trending now.

First things first: I didn't know that oyster stouts were actually brewed with oysters. I thought it was a clever name, piggybacking on the resurgence of oysters. Nope. As it turns out, most oyster stouts are either brewed with oyster shells or steeped with an oyster meat teabag. (In my defense, a few beers call themselves oyster stouts [Marston's] but aren't made with oysters. They just taste good WITH oysters.)

So back to oyster stouts. Why in the hell would someone brew beer with oysters? 

It started like the old Reese's Peanut Butter Cups commercials: "Your chocolate got in my peanut butter. No, your peanut butter got in my chocolate." (Please stop and watch this classic commercial. You may pee your pants a little.)

Back, back in the day, shucked oysters were served in every tavern like a bowl of peanuts and stout was the beer of choice. Pop in an oyster. Sip stout. Repeat. They just seemed to work.

The first formal oyster stout is believed to have been brewed in New Zealand in 1929, though I can't find any real evidence of it. (Kids, if you are writing a research paper on oyster stouts, do not use this post as a resource.) A few breweries in Australia, Ireland and the UK rolled out their own oyster stout. Then, as trends go, stout was replaced with pale ales and oysters found themselves out of favor. Bye, bye oyster stout.

Thank goodness trends come back around (watch the Reese's '80s video again). Oyster stouts are baaaaacccccck. Microbrewers are teaming up with the biggest names in the oyster business (Hama Hama, Hog Island, John Dory) to create new award-winning stouts. Here's a few to try:

• The folks at Flying Dog Brewery in Frederick, MD, aren't messing around with their oyster brew. They toss in whole Rappahannock River Oysters into their Pearl Necklace Oyster Stout near the end of the boil, according to head brewer, Ben Clark. As if the lure of brewed Rapps aren't enough, a portion of the proceeds from the sale of Pearl Necklace benefits the Oyster Recovery Partnership, which helps restore oysters in the Chesapeake Bay. 

• Upright Brewery in Portland, OR, tries to do one better, using both oyster liquor and whole oysters from Hama Hama Oyster Company. Oyster Stout (no marketing gimmicks at this brewery) was a 2012 World Beer Cup Bronze medal winner. Special bonus: On the last Friday of each month, Oyster Social, a mobile oyster raw bar, sets up shop in the tasting room at the brewery. 
• HenHouse Brewing Company in Petaluma, CA, brews its stout with oyster shells from our friends at Hog Island Oyster Co. The shells are bagged, thrown into a vat, and boiled for a half hour to leach out the minerals. Brewers then fish out the shells. For now, HenHouse Oyster Stout is only a West Coast thing. (Psst.: Sources say that retired Marooned on Hog Island from 21st Amendment Brewery in San Fran may show up again in a year or two.)
• John Dory Oyster Stout from Sixpoint Brewery in Brooklyn is made exclusively for The John Dory Oyster Bar in NYC. Yep, there's only one spot to enjoy the brew. 
• A microbrewer from Charleston, SC, is getting props for brewing a stellar oyster stout. Coast Brewing Company brews a seasonal Bulls Bay Oyster Stout using local oysters from Jeff and Carrie Spahr at Charleston Oyster Co. The stout is available at the brewery as well as at Charleston-area bars and restaurants.
• Ireland has jumped on the oyster stout bandwagon as well. Notably, the Porterhouse Brewing Company in Dublin, Ireland, gets rave reviews. Fresh oysters are shucked directly into the conditioning tanks. Surely, someone fishes them out …??

Absent from this list is Island Creek Oyster Stout from Boston's Harpoon Brewery & Beer Hall, an early marquis entrant into the oyster stout market. The beer has been retired and there are no current plans to bring it back.

---

BTW, if you find an oyster-like substance in your beer, it could be a "beer oyster," which isn't an oyster at all … and really gross. The kids at TYWKIWDBI blog write a first hand, really *explicit* account of a beer oyster. Don't say I didn't warn you.

---

Photo from Upright Brewing

Cheers to a dozen oysters on the half shell and a cold oyster stout!

You foam within our glasses, you lusty golden brew,
Whoever imbibes takes fire from you.
The young and the old sing your praises,
Here's to beer,
Here's to cheer,
Here's to beer!

- "The Bartered Bride"