Seaweed Beer

One of my favorite websites, The AV Club has a weekly article called Taste Test. Usually involving something unappetizing like green tea flavored Kit-Kats. This week to my surprise, they had included two beers in their tasting event. The Fraoch Heather beer which I have never had but I have heard good things about and Kelpie Beer made with seaweed.

This leads me to one of my annoyances. Extreme brewing. Now I love an Imperial IPA or a barleywine as much as the next person but, come on, seaweed? Are we to the point where we have fully mastered the brewing arts that seaweed is all that is left to use? There are times when I wish there was an American Reinheitesgebot. That way we can see if a brewer is stripped of tricks whether or not the beer will be solid and flavorful.

I am all for experimenting with brettamyoces or whiskey casks but when you start adding in non-beer related ingredients you might want to pull back from the cliff.