The first thing you notice about the beer is its scent. Not earthy hops, not caramelly malt — chili.
An unlikely collaboration from two Minnesota companies has yielded a one-of-a-kind beer inspired by a hall-of-fame party dip, just in time for Super Bowl snacking.
Chili Cheese Brew merges Modist Brewing Company's propensity for making craft beer out of un-beer-like ingredients (bagels, gummy worms and marshmallows come to mind), with a crockpot staple — Hormel chili cheese dip.
"We've made a lot of wacky beers over the years, but this one takes the cake," said Jack Greer, Modist's head brewer.
Austin-based Hormel approached Modist with the idea.
"The Super Bowl snacking occasion is really huge, so Hormel Chili plays a huge part in that, especially our Hormel Chili cheese dip," said Jason Hron, Hormel Chili brand manager. Last year, Hormel capitalized on that by inventing the chili cheese keg, a half-barrel keg that dispensed its famous dip.
"We wanted to look at leveling that up, but also taking into account our dipping occasion and owning that. And so we came up with this crazy idea of hey, how can we complement our dip with something as far as a beverage goes?"
Greer was up for a zany challenge.