When most breweries put out a big beer — as many are doing for this weekend’s sold-out High Gravity Hullabaloo — it’s an imperial stout, or a double IPA, or some other style generally favored by more die-hard craft beer drinkers.
Four String decided to make malt liquor.
“We used to hammer 40-ounces of King Cobra in fields out in Mount Vernon when I was in high school, which earned the nickname ‘Corn snake’ from my friend Corby Wise,” said Dan Cochran, owner of Four String Brewing, about the inspiration behind the brew.
Malt liquor is brewed using adjuncts like corn and rice in addition to the traditional barley found in beer. Over 60% of the mash in Four String’s malt liquor is made up of a variety of adjuncts.
The resulting product — taking its Corn Snake name from Cochran’s youth — will appropriately be served to Hullabaloo attendees in a brown paper bag.
“It was actually really hard to find the bags,” Cochrain said. “We’re going to do tiny samples in brown paper bags with a Four String stamp on it.”
The beer clocks in at 8.5% ABV with 28 IBUs.
“If we are going to call something Corn Snake, it had better taste like corn,” said Four String’s head brewer Nick Gabriel. “Everything you might expect from a malt liquor is present. A warming booziness, sweet alcoholic aroma, and a touch of adolescent shame.”