Big Shed Brewing unveils The Mitani Chicken Salt Gose

The popular Adelaide brewers made a splash with their “Bruchoc” beer, but the masterminds behind this creation admit it may leave some a little salty.

Tucking into hot chips at the footy has inspired a new chicken salt-flavoured beer by Adelaide's Big Shed Brewing.

The Mitani Chicken Salt Gose, a traditional German-style brew, features the quintessentially South Australian seasoning and is made using 200kg of McCain’s oven-fried chips.

From the Royal Park-based team behind Bruchocs – a FruChocs-flavoured beer – the limited-edition drink might not be for everyone, head brewer Ben Johnson admitted.

“But it’s better than I thought it would be. It’s actually very drinkable,” he said.

Mr Johnson said one of their brewers was enjoying some hot chips at Adelaide Oval this year when he came up with the left-field suggestion.

“We’re always looking for weird ideas to push the boundaries of beer, so we thought, ‘Why not?’” he said.

Deciding upon the sour gose-style brew, which also features table salt, Big Shed teamed up with Mitani, the company behind Adelaide’s favourite chicken salt since the 1970s.

Mitani's recipe is a closely guarded secret, so they supplied the brewery with their powder – minus the salt – which Big Shed added to the beer, carefully including small amounts of salt to get the right balance.

Big Shed staff Adam Forth and Nicole Osborn with the Mitani Chicken Salt Gose. Picture: Tom Huntley

“We wanted to get the chicken flavours in there without using too much salt,” Mr Johnson said.

Mr Johnson said the chips were also a key player in the process, replacing much of the wheat in the beer’s recipe. The starch in the potato fermented and added to the “alcohol and acid of the beer”.

“It’ll be a little polarising … there’s a distinct chicken salt flavour when you taste it,” he said.

“We probably won’t make again, I’m not sure it will have a massive following … but it’s just one of those beers you put out there for people to try and maybe get them to think about beer and beer flavours,” he said.

Big Shed Brewing has created more than 200 beers in its 10-year history, and is known for their inventive offerings.

Apart from their FruChoc-flavoured brew, which sold out in 13 minutes when first launched in 2019, the brewery also released a Thai green curry beer in 2017.

The chicken salt gose will now be showcased at the Great Australasian Beer Spectapular, an annual craft beer and cider festival, which will be held in Auckland, New Zealand, next month.

The beer is available at Big Shed’s Royal Park taproom and in selected independent bottle shops.

Originally published as Big Shed Brewing unveils The Mitani Chicken Salt Gose