Distilled Beer?

Photo Credit: Serious Eats

As first glance, "distilled beer" seems like an odd beverage idea.

But when you think about it, that's essentially what whiskey is: fermented grains--hops, rye, corn, etc--produce something pretty close to beer, which is then distilled to make whiskey.

The "beer" that gets turned into whiskey isn't made for drinking, but what if you made whiskey from real, drinkable beer?

Enter Charbay R5 Hop-Flavored Whiskey. 

According to Serious Eats, "Charbay has selected a very hop-forward IPA for a whiskey profile unlike any other. The Racer 5 IPA gets double distilled in copper pot stills—it takes about 10 gallons of handcrafted suds to produce a gallon of finished whiskey. The aged version then mellows in French oak casks for 22 months, which the clear is bottled straight from the tap. (Yes, those pricey ingredients make for a pricey final product: the aged goes for $75 and clear sells for $54.) When faced with such a concoction, the only natural approach is to try it side by side with the brew from whence it came—which is exactly what we did."

Read more to learn about the beer they use, and they different whiskeys that come out of it!