Banana stout didn’t just come out of nowhere. There are great stout brewers, such as Other Half (Brooklyn, New York), J. Wakefield (Miami, Florida), and Main & Mill (Festus, Missouri) that started doing it. When I first heard about it, I never thought a banana—a whole banana—would make a great adjunct in a stout. But, I had a banana stout at a festival, and it surprised me so much that I thought that we just had to try it ourselves.
It’s a progression. Everyone has used coconut, and it’s played out. So you need to think about ways to think outside of the box. Bananas and strawberries are surprisingly good. It makes sense. A lot of the stouts we drink today are inspired by desserts, and those fruits can be desserts, too.
Our base beer goes really well with a lot of adjuncts. It’s not too thick. It’s dark but not too roasty, and that just pairs well with fruits. When you think about the fruits out there, they can be tart or berry-forward, and you don’t want that to be lost by something too robust. When you’re going to do these kinds of beers, think about the stout as a blank canvas, but make sure it is where you want it to be.