Any Guy's Food Blog

Stone IPA commands nearly the most citrus flavor of any IPA with which I am familiar. Like the brew master of Chico's Sierra Nevada Brewery, the master at Stone Brewing is in love with his hops. For me, you must walk a really fine line with a love affair with hops. Stone Brewing walks that line with expert precision. Even people turned off by hops should give this brew a try. With the citrus and hops I thought that this beer would pair well with a cooked game hen.

While driving to San Francisco last weekend I was discussing my recipe ideas with @bradonweb and he mentioned that one of my recipes should be a beer can chicken. This came up when we were discussing my awful 7, many of which usually come in a can. I had heard of this before and the idea seemed self-descriptive enough, but I wasn't 100% sure I knew what it was. The abridged version of @bradonweb's description was that it was the most "genius redneck" invention of all time. Open a can of beer, shove it in a chicken, stand it on a grill and voila! (That's Cajun for 'woohoo'.)

It seemed too obvious and unoriginal to do this with a cheap beer in a can (he suggested Budweiser), and I had already planned on doing a game hen with the Stone IPA, so I decided to just change my game hen idea to a "beer can" chicken. Clearly Stone IPA does not come in a can, so I came up with an easy fix for that. The "beer can" chicken recipe is also FAR less complicated than the recipe I was originally planning.

I'll start the following recipe with the extremely easy version. Then I'll talk about what I did instead.

Ingredients:

1 bottle Stone IPA
1 whole chicken
Poultry Rub (bought from the store)
1 can baked beans

Directions:

Open the can of baked beans, completely removing the top, and empty into a pot. Clean the tin can thoroughly, peel off the label.

Generously and vigorously rub the game hen with the store bought rub.

Fill the clean tin can nearly to the top with Stone IPA.

Insert the can into the cavity of the game hen, make a dirty joke and then high-five the nearest person.

Stand the game hen and can upright on your grill and cook on low-medium heat. You will want to be careful not to cook at too high of a temperature or it will not cook all the way through which increases the chances dramatically of food poisoning. If you cook too low, it will take longer and you will be more likely to dry out the meat. The fortunate thing about the can of beer is that this will not only steam the inside, but help maintain moisture in the meat. If all the beer evaporates before the game hen has finished cooking, you can use a baster to refill the can through the neck of the bird.

Cook the beans, take the bird off the grill and carve it. Serve on a plate and eat up.

* I decided to make my own rub. Here is the recipe.

Rub Ingredients:
1 cup corn meal
2 tbsp brown sugar
2/3 cup salt
1 tbsp garlic powder
3 tsp ground red pepper
2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp cumin

I then used a smoker instead and slow cooked the bird. I was toying with the idea of using my steamer bowl in the smoker instead of the can, but went ahead and used the can.

Tasting Notes:

The chicken was moist and tasty. There was a clear citrus and hops to the meat which was very pleasant. I tasted the skin first and it was perfect with the rub. I'm not really a fan of skin though. So I tried a piece of the meat and it was fantastic. I cut a few pieces off of the bird and made a sandwich. You could use mayo if you wanted, but it's so moist and flavorful that it's totally not necessary. On my own scale, I give this bad boy a 8.5 out of 10. The beer really makes this recipe.