How Unknown Brewing’s latest was made with apple pie, a denim miniskirt and the Rocky Balboa statue

The Unknown Brewing Co.’s latest beer cost $3,000 to brew, but you can try it for just $20.

That’s the price of entry into the Strange Brew festival held from 6:30-10 p.m. at the brewery this Saturday, where they will debut “The Most American Beer in the History of America” (also known as “America AF”). The second-year event encourages brewers to get out of their comfort zones, and this might be Unknown’s most experimental beer yet. And that’s saying something, considering they’ve brewed with scorpions, cotton candy and catnip.

Of course, to brew a beer that truly represents America, Shell needed to see the country. He asked his friend (and Bubonik Funk drummer) Daniel Allison if he wanted to take a road trip. Having just spent nine days on the road, Allison hesitated — until Shell made him a special offer.

“I told him I had colonial hats,” said Shell.

So the pair donned those hats and hit the road in search of ingredients and inspiration. They plucked grass from the lawn of the National Mall in Washington, D.C. When they couldn’t get close enough to the Liberty Bell to harvest a yeast sample, they instead did so from two statues: the Rocky Balboa statue in Philadelphia and the Statue of Liberty. A stop at the Hershey plant in Hershey, Pennsylvania yielded a five-pound chocolate bar, and oats and barley were procured in Lancaster, home to the country’s largest Amish settlement.

But wait, there’s more. Water for the 21-gallon batch came from the Upper Potomac River. The two grabbed blueberries and figs grown in Thomas Jefferson’s garden at Monticello, and an apple pie from Williamsburg, Virginia.

Initially Shell considered aging the beer in barrels that once held bourbon, that quintessential American spirit, but he instead ordered Sequoia wood, which he cut up and soaked in whiskey from George Washington’s Mount Vernon distillery before adding it to the beer.

Hold on, there’s still more. The beer features all Liberty hops, and was filtered through denim miniskirts. While it fermented, musicians in Bald Eagle costumes serenaded it with Jimi Hendrix’s version of the national anthem.

All told, Shell spent several days and $3,000 during his 2,000-mile road trip — and he says it was worth it. His mantra at Unknown has always been to push the envelope, and he hopes the Strange Brew festival will encourage the other participating breweries to do the same.

“Because it’s such a competitive market, brewers have to always be spot on with their beers,” Shell said. “They’re not really encouraged to experiment. This is a chance for breweries just to be creative and fun.”

Shell and Allison filmed themselves during their trip, but they also turned the camera on people they met in diners, bars and restaurants. They asked these newfound friends to answer burning questions like, “Who would win in a fight: Teddy Roosevelt or an alligator?” 

They also asked them how they would describe America to a perfect stranger. Shell said he may put together a small film showing the variety of responses he received.

If you want to see what America means to him, however, you can sample it this Saturday night.

Photos: Observer file photo. Other photos from Brad Shell

This story was originally published November 2, 2016 at 11:05 PM with the headline "How Unknown Brewing’s latest was made with apple pie, a denim miniskirt and the Rocky Balboa statue."