Among the greatest joys of FIFA World Cup 2018—aside from seeing your team win—is enjoying such football-themed goods out there as cakes, chocolates and sushi.
One of my favorite ideas is Carlsberg’s Beer Caviar, which finds a fun way to celebrate their national Danish team and host country Russia. While neither teams are in the finals, but perhaps this unique product could offer some solace.
“Our own numbers that date back to 1978 show that the Danes enjoy an extra pilsner during soccer matches,” said Wouter de Groot, Beer Category Image Manager at Carlsberg Group. So beyond engaging with the fans, this is Carlsberg’s way of showing “Denmark, the national teams and the fans that we’re there for them.”
In case anyone is wondering, this isn’t your typical caviar with roe from wild sturgeon in the Caspian and Black seas. Knowing Carlsberg's previous quirkier inventions, such as beer shampoos and beer brewed with hops that are cultivated by blasting sounds of screaming fans for six months straight, this is hardly surprising.
As a nod to the traditional Russian delicacy, the Carlsberg team worked alongside renowned Danish chef Umut Sakarya, and applied spherification—a molecular gastronomy method which involves making tiny pearls of liquid with a firm membrane that encircles the fluid—to create this product.
Sounds a bit complicated? Well, here’s a general breakdown, according to Thea Stevnhoj, Food Research and Creative Advisor at Carlsberg.
- First, we chose Carlsberg’s classic pilsner—a beer that most Danes view as part of their national cultural heritage—as the main ingredient.
- The team mixes the beer with sodium citrate and a tiny bit of salt.
- After blending in sodium alginate to thicken the liquid, we then let the mixture rest for a while.
- We dissolve calcium chloride in water and drop tiny pearls of the mixture in the bath.
- The beer caviar is made!
As expected, it took the team quite a bit of trial and error during the development process. In particular, it was hard to prevent the acidity of the beer from ruining the spherification process and infuse the caviar with the pure taste of the pilsner. After two months of refining the recipe, the team ended up adding sodium citrate to regulate the acid and sprinkled some salt to highlight the beer notes.
At 50g of caviar per container, about six cans provide the same amount of alcohol in one 33cl-can of beer. So while it’s relatively light, you can technically still get drunk if consuming too much.
Stevnhoj recommends paring this caviar with blinis, sour cream and a piece of ham. Plus, of course, Carlsberg pilsner.
This is the way we’ve been serving at events. But we definitely think a side note of beer could work on anything. What about a hot dog with a sprinkle of beer caviar? The important thing is to pair sour, sweet, salty and bitter flavors in a dish.
Currently, this product is distributed as free samples at selected events only. If you want to make this caviar at home, Sakarya suggests trying a gelatin method that involves gently heating the beer, dissolving gelatin into the mixture and dropping pearls into ice-cold oil. As opposed to the spherification method, which creates a shell with liquid beer inside, this method produces jelly-like pearls of beer instead.
Ultimately, Carlsberg wants people to eat and (not just) drink while watching soccer. Doing both will make "you drink less and more slowly, plus enjoy your beer more,” said de Groot.
