The first time I encountered oysters in beer was on a trip to visit my family in Ireland back in 2004. I was there to meet aunts, uncles, and cousins—many for the first time in my life. My cousin Jenny—or J-Lo—thought it a clever idea to squire me up into the coastal headlands around Bray, south of Dublin on the Irish Sea, for some fresh air before the afternoon’s party.
After about an hour walking the beautiful Bray Head, she suggested (like good Irish folk) that we have a beer. Getting no argument from me, J-Lo took me to a pub in Bray that was operated by Dublin’s Porterhouse Brewing. And there, on the menu, was an oyster stout.
A what now?