Wisconsin Beer Series Sauce #1 - Pineapple Habanero IPA Buffalo

Bright, hoppy, fruity heat with a Wisconsin beer backbone.

This is uncharted territory for us here at Milwaukee Wings... recipes! Honestly, I rarely make wings at home. Deep frying things terrifies me, and honestly, I'm not sure I've ever made anything better than what I can get at the plethora of great wing joints in the area.

But one night I had an idea, and a brilliant one if I do say so myself. Thinking of my friends at Milwaukee Beer Review, what if I made a line of wing sauces featuring some of the great beers our state has to offer?

Challenge accepted.

But where to start? Let's start with the basics, let's put a fun twist on the classic Buffalo sauce. Buffalo sauce is sacred ground in the wing world, so messing with it always comes with some risk, but I think this zany idea works this one works.

This Pineapple IPA Buffalo Sauce keeps the soul of classic buffalo intact while layering in two things that play shockingly well this classic flavor: tropical pineapple sweetness and the citrus-forward bitterness of a good IPA. The result is a sauce that hits familiar first, then gets brighter, fruitier, and hotter as you keep eating. And yes… it sneaks up on you. We also amp this sauce up with a habanero to build the heat to play along with the fruity sweetness.

Our ingredients for this tasty sauce!

Ingredients:

• ½ cup Frank’s RedHot

  ½ cup Lakefront Brewing IPA (or Wisconsin IPA of your choice)

• ⅓ cup pineapple juice

• ¼ cup unsalted butter, divided into tablespoons

• 1 fresh habanero peppers, seeded and finely minced (add more for additional heat)

• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

• 1 tbsp honey

• ½ tsp garlic powder

• ¼ tsp onion powder

• Pinch of salt

• Small pinch of xanthan gum if you'd like a thicker sauce

Frying at home scares me... I should probably buy a deep fryer. Don't burn your house down, seriously, use caution!

Instructions:

1. Reduce the IPA pour the IPA into a saucepan and simmer over medium heat until reduced by about half, roughly 5–6 minutes. This concentrates hop flavor, cooks off harsh alcohol notes, and brings out the malty sweetness

2. Bloom the habanero. Add the minced habanero directly into the reduced beer and simmer for another 2–3 minutes. This infuses heat into the IPA base instead of leaving it raw and sharp.

3. Build the flavor up. Stir in pineapple juice, vinegar, honey, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt. Simmer gently for 3–4 minutes.

4. Finish the sauce. Remove from the heat and add the Frank's Red Hot, whisk to combine. Continue to whisk and add the butter 1 tablespoon at a time while continuing to whisk. Do not boil the sauce once the butter has been added! Adding the butter incrementally while continuously whisking will help you prevent the sauce from breaking, resulting in a smooth and glossy sauce.

5. Taste and adjust. Add more pineapple juice for sweetness, vinegar for bite, or heat if you’re feeling bold.

6. (If desired) Strain the sauce to remove any habanero pieces from your sauce.

7. Add the sauce to some hot and fresh wings, toss, and serve!

The Result:

This was a winner! Spicy, fruity, and a bit sweet, it was a very fun twist on the traditional buffalo flavor. If this one were served in a wing joint, it would definitely be a repeat order for me.

Being this is only our first recipe; I'm encouraged to see where this journey takes us! Right now, I've got 8 more wing sauces queued up (one of them other already made that I'll post later).

The Pineapple Habanero IPA Buffalo wings are on the left, a future sauce recipe on the right.

Score:

Hmmm....how do we rate these? Let's just go with a simple 0-10 scale. For me, this one was a 9 out of 10. I hope to serve these up to some of the wing crew as well. Once I get their opinions, I'll edit this review to include their scores as well.