What happens when the artisanal doughnut and cronut (a cross between a doughnut and a croissant) trend intersects with a craft beer craze? Heaven!
1. Doughnut-Inspired Beers
Rogue Ales (Newport, Oregon) was ahead of the doughnut trend with their Voodoo Doughnut Bacon Maple Ale, brewed with Applewood-smoked bacon and maple syrup and inspired by the famous Portland, Oregon, doughnut shop’s bacon maple doughnut. They followed that with a Chocolate Peanut Butter and Banana Ale, inspired by Voodoo’s Memphis Mafia doughnut, and a Pretzel, Raspberry and Chocolate Ale, a brown ale inspired by the Voodoo Doll doughnut. All three make for slow sipping and could be considered a meal, or a dessert, itself.
København, Denmark’s Evil Twin’s Imperial Doughnut Break takes doughnut inspiration to the next level: the hefty 11.5 percent ABV porter is brewed with more than 900 doughnuts from Glazed Gourmet Doughnuts in Charleston, South Carolina, according to the Charleston City Paper. Apparently it worked, as the beer blog Brew Drink Run raves: “The smell! This smells exactly like chocolate glazed doughnuts. EXACTLY.”