Oregon Brewery Makes Beer From A Beard

We know that beer can occassionally end up on your beard, but we never expected a beard to be used in a beer.

In possibly the weirdest beer concoction we've heard of yet, Rogue Brewery from Oregon has used yeast from its brewmaster's beard. While searching for a new strain of yeast, someone had the brainy idea to test John Maier's beard follicles for yeast. They sent nine hair follicles to its testing lab, and — surprise — the beard had useable yeast. White Labs cultivated the yeast and sent it back to the brewery.

To be fair, it was kind of a joke, said Rogue on its website — until they actually decided to use it. And to Rogue's credit, Maier's beard, which he says he's grown since 1978 and never once cut, is pretty impressive.

Rogue says the "beard beer," called the New Crustacean, will be released in early 2013. The brewery says it's dedicated to saving Oregon's supply of barley, hops, and rye "by growing our own, one acre at a time." We just didn't think that acre would be on someone's face.