Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Food & Drink

Move Over Candy Corn: Beer Candy Makes for a Hoppy Halloween

Lee Heidel
By

It’s almost Halloween. You’ve carved the pumpkin. You’ve created the perfect costume. You’ve got your favorite pumpkin beer on ice (don’t have one? Check these pumpkin beers out). There’s only one thing left to do: Buy the candy.

Unless you’re the neighborhood grouch, you’d better be ready with a bowl full of something sugary and sweet when the kids come knocking on your door yelling, “Trick or Treat!” on October 31.

Recommended Videos

But what if you love beer way more than candy? Strike a compromise with beer-themed candy treats. Bonus perk – if you buy too much, for once you’ll be happy to eat all the leftovers.

Related

Here are our favorite beer-themed candies. And don’t worry — there’s no alcohol in these, so no need to check IDs at your front door (unless you’re dressing as a bouncer for Halloween, then it just seems appropriate).

Brew Candy from Swag Brewery

Brew Candy from Swag Brewery
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Brew Candy is sold in 4-ounce bags that contain approximately 25 pieces of hard candy in 3 different flavors: Hoppy IPA, Roasty Stout, and Honey Ale. It’s a nice way to get just a taste of beer when drinking a beer isn’t an option. (While you’re at Swag Brewery’s site, you might want to also pick up some whiskey soap or some beer hot sauce.)

Hop Candy from B-Hoppy

Hop Candy from B-Hoppy
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Made from real hop oils, Hop Candy is available in several hop varietal flavors. These include Saaz, Cascade, and East Kent Golding as well as limited edition flavors. The absence of malt and yeast flavors allow you to get a unique tasting experience that features each hop’s individual characteristics. Whether you purchase in bulk or in 4-ounce baggies, each candy is individually wrapped and perfect for sharing.

Draft Beer Jelly Beans from Jelly Belly

Draft Beer Jelly Beans from Jelly Belly
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Calling a flavor “Draft Beer” is asking for trouble. We all know that isn’t a generic flavor term. Beer flavors vary from stouts to saisons and everything in between. But truth be told, these Draft Beer Jelly Beans actually taste a lot like Miller Genuine Draft. Like many of Jelly Belly’s more experimental flavors, this one is polarizing but worth the splurge.

Make Your Own Beer Gummies

Once you’ve turned off your porch light and all the trick-or-treaters are back home admiring their loot, here’s a beer-themed candy option just for the grown-ups. An important note, unlike the commercial options above, the candies in this recipe will have alcohol and aren’t for children. If you want a snack that tastes just like your favorite beer, it’s easy to make your own beer gummies. A few quick steps and you’ll be enjoying your gummies in no time. Get the full recipe at Bakers Brigade. All you need is:

  • 4 oz of your favorite beer (feel free to drink the other two-thirds of the bottle),
  • .25 cup sugar
  • 3 packets of unflavored gelatin and the candy molds of your choice.

If you’re enjoying beer candies, might as well splurge on some Halloween cocktails and spooky wines.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Lee Heidel
Lee Heidel
Lee Heidel is the managing editor of Brew/Drink/Run, a website and podcast that promotes brewing your own beer, consuming the…
The white oak tree is in danger, and so is bourbon — here’s what the industry is doing about it
We're making more white oak barrels than we can sustain
Bourbon barrels

If you’ve ever looked into the process of making whiskey (specifically bourbon), you know that there are a lot of rules and regulations, but (on top of the ingredients themselves) there are few steps more important than the aging process. Equally invaluable is the actual wood the bourbon is matured in. While some distillers experiment with other woods for extra aging and finishing, white oak is the only acceptable barrel for straight bourbon. This is why it’s so discouraging to learn about a new report that says that whiskey makers are starting to run out of viable trees.

Something must be done quickly, or soon you might either not be able to get your hands on your favorite bourbon — or you’ll have to pay an uncomfortable amount to get it. You still don’t understand? Let’s start with a little refresher about what makes a bourbon.
How bourbon is made
While whiskey (spelled ‘whisky’ everywhere but the United States and Ireland) is made all over the world from Scotland to Taiwan and everywhere in between, you can only make bourbon in the U.S. America’s “native spirit” is also governed by a few unflinching rules and regulations.

Read more
A chef gives us the secret key ingredient to make perfect fried chicken (and the one step most people get wrong!)
The secret to perfect fried chicken is simpler than you think
Fried chicken

Beautifully executed fried chicken is, perhaps, one of the few perfect things we get to have as human beings. Its warm, crispy, decadently crunchy crust with a hot and steamy, sinfully juicy, rich, and savory center is enough to make most grown men weep with pure joy. This classic dish is arguably one of the most important staples of American cuisine, and the pressure to get it right can be intense. The good news is, no one knows how to make fried chicken better than Chef Trevor Stockton, of The Restaurant at RT Lodge, and he graciously agreed to be our guide with a few of his best tips.

Chef Stockton shared with us the secret to perfect fried chicken, and the answer is a simple one. "The most important thing, other than using a quality chicken, is using quality buttermilk," he said, adding that he uses Cruze Farm Dairy buttermilk, which is churned and not homogenized. "If you can get your hands on real churned buttermilk, it will give you nice tender chicken because it still has all of its original qualities. We season our chicken very simply and then cover it with the Cruze Farm buttermilk for a minimum of 24 hours."

Read more
This is the perfect 4 course apres ski dinner menu
Yeah, you'll pass out afterward, don't worry
Friends eating around table

The term après-ski, made popular in the Alps during the 1950s, brings with it a certain air of sophistication and expectation. Gorgeously furnished, rusticly chic mountain lodges, complete with roaring fires and expensive cocktails, come to mind. The faintest sound of Sinatra crooning from well-placed hidden sound systems, clinking glassware, and lilting laughter coming from tables full of old friends and older money seems to be the very soundtrack of the term après-ski.
Of course, with this ambiance comes beautiful cuisine. What is après-ski without perfect dishes? Dishes that must be elegant yet satisfyingly hearty to the youthful yet exhausted skier or snowboarder. Dishes that - if prepared by yourself and not the personal chef - must be simple enough to make with a glass of wine in one hand and friends gathered in the kitchen.
This is the perfect après-ski menu for just such an occasion. These four courses are balanced, comforting, and elegant, perfect after a day on the mountain.

Poutine recipe
Is it indulgent? Yes. Do you deserve it? Also, yes.

Read more