When you’re barbecuing in the backyard with a cold beer in hand, such an esteemed entree like the beer-can chicken makes the most sense. It feels almost counterintuitive at first: You stick a half-empty beverage into the gaping crevice of a deceased bird before placing it on a hot grill. But if we played by the rules 100% of the time, there would be no Blue Heat Takis or NASA.
With a history as hazy as an unfiltered IPA, the beer-can chicken is believed to be a Southern innovation in which a whole chicken is propped upright over a can of beer on a charcoal or propane grill. The boiling beer steams the bird from the inside out while the ambient heat of the grill crisps its skin to an irresistible crunch.
Distinctly American in its git-r-done-ness, the beer-can chicken has become a fixture of summer alongside pickleball and emergency cooler ice. That's why I took on this barbecue experiment, pairing six chickens with six different beers, to find the best beer-can chicken. I decided to use five different styles of beer (and a wildcard hard seltzer for funsies) to taste how each beer affects the flavor of the chicken. Here's how I did it.
THE BEERS
The Shed Brewery Mountain Ale
Watermelon Lime Splash White Claw
Natural Light Natty Daddy
Narragansett Beer
Guinness Draught Stout
Bud Light Lime
THE BIRDS
Six identical whole raw chickens sans giblet
THE METHODOLOGY
With my body now statistically more microplastic than meat, I had few qualms about cooking and consuming chicken cooked atop super-heated aluminum. Here's how I approached creating a cooking template for my beer-can chicken experiment:
I patted each chicken dry with a paper towel.
I thoroughly rubbed each bird with various spices and seasonings based on the beverage's flavor profile.
As per the rules of Beer-Can Chicken (of which the first rule is: There are no rules), I popped open each can of beer or seltzer and drank half — this gives ample room for steam while daddy gets a saucy little drink.
After shoving the can into the raw chicken, I perched each chicken on the grill for an hour and a half to two hours at about 400 F.
To finish each chicken, I placed it directly on the grill grates, poured any leftover beer in the can on the bird and finished ‘er off in five minutes.
THE RESULTS
The Shed Brewery Mountain Ale
Hailing from the heady college town of Middlebury, Vermont, Shed Brewery’s hearty Mountain Ale is a full-bodied brew with a sweet side. The first sip sent cascades of toffee and caramel to my tongue as if some occult hand had personally transported it to Flavorville, USA.
Accordingly, I seasoned my bird with brown sugar, paprika, garlic powder, and salt to accentuate the beer's flavor. I periodically basted (i.e., poured more beer on) my chicken as it cooked, resulting in some cool flames.
HOW WAS IT?
Smoky, nutty, and tender with crispy skin teetering on burnt (chalk that one up to user error).
4 FOWLS OUT OF 5 FOWLS
Watermelon Lime Splash White Claw
When you think about it, hard seltzer and beer aren't all that different. Both use sugar as a source of fermentation and provide tremendous relief after a day on Zoom. I wanted to test the limits of what could be accomplished with chicken and alcohol, which is how I ended up with White Claw — more specifically, a watermelon-and-lime-flavored White Claw. An avid drinker of hard seltzers, I appreciate White Claw's subtle flavor and light body, yet understood the possibility of losing it all within the cozy confines of a chicken hole. Never one to waste a fowl, I seasoned my bird inside and out with a fail-safe combo of rosemary, thyme, tarragon, sage, garlic powder, and salt.
HOW WAS IT?
Anticlimactic but maybe that's a good thing? Some flavors (watermelon and lime, for example) didn’t translate from can to chicken, but that's showbiz, baby! The liquid still did its job inside the chicken, giving me tender meat I turned into chicken salad.
3 FOWLS OUT OF 5 FOWLS
Natural Light Natty Daddy
Natural Light's 8% ABV, malty Natty Daddy is a blue-and-red behemoth of pure patriotism that raised the stakes of this experiment with its sheer girth. Could such a wide beer can fit inside my bird? Would the sheer volume of liquid within this tall boy (25 fluid ounces) overpower its chicken overlord and drown out my delicate fowl with beer?! Turns out, no.
HOW WAS IT?
My chicken, affectionately named Raw Chicken #3, accommodated its parasitic can with flying colors. Furthermore, this bird, coated in a light and easy combo of salt, pepper, various herbs, and butter, enabled the malt liquor to live up to its reputation with delicate, buttery meat that established itself as the Daddy Chicken.
5 FOWLS OUT OF 5 FOWLS
Narragansett
A New England staple since 1890, chicken and Narragansett go together like peas and carrots. A famously easy-to-drink lager, this Rhode Island native is perfect in a cold pint glass but soars when stuck up a cold chicken hole seasoned with rosemary, thyme, and Bell’s Seasoning.
HOW WAS IT?
Giving the chicken a warm flavor akin to freshly baked bread, ‘Gansett is a great beer for beer-can chicken because of its light body and mild taste. Mouth happy.
4 FOWLS OUT OF 5 FOWLS
Guinness Draught Stout
I've cooked with Guinness before, partaking in the traditional Irish beef and Guinness stew despite my blood's utter lack of Irish DNA, but this one made me nervous. With notes of coffee, barley, and chocolate, this distinctly winter-esque beer got me worried. Would it be too overpowering? Too thick?
My solution: I tried out a homemade instant coffee rub with Cafe Bustelo, paprika, garlic powder, and brown sugar to accentuate this beer's dark, velvety flavor profile.
HOW WAS IT?
I ended up with a chicken free from the confines of seasonality: The Guinness brought out a smokiness typically reserved for those barbecue shacks you find off the side of the highway. My greatest takeaway is the knowledge that Guinness chicken and my good buddy, Rufus Teague, makes for a delicious pairing.
4.5 FOWLS OUT OF 5 FOWLS
Bud Light Lime
Anheuser-Busch got their act together to produce another fine crop of Bud Light Lime. Just in time for summer, too!
A symphony of flavor where the conductor and musicians are anthropomorphous limes playing various green instruments, BLL, is the ultimate summer drink. As such, I knew pairing this refreshing bev with a room-temperature raw chicken — and a healthy coating of Tajín Clásico Chile Lime Seasoning — couldn't go wrong.
HOW WAS IT?
Perfect: Tender, crispy, and strangely sophisticated. The Tajín worked with the Bud Light Lime to produce a strong enough lime flavor that made its way throughout the bird.
This chicken flew wings made of lime, making it the perfect contender for a burrito bowl with a side of Bud Light Lime.
5 FOWLS OUT OF 5 FOWLS
PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of Jeremy Glass
