Wisconsin Beer Series Sauce #2 - Belgian Red Door County Cherry Bomb

A New Glarus–powered wing sauce with sweet heat

If you’re going to build a beer-centric wing sauce lineup in Wisconsin, you pretty much have to use New Glarus at some point as they are arguably the most recognizable craft brewery in the state. While their flagship Spotted Cow is undoubtably their most popular brew, I decided to take this on in a different direction by utilizing their Belgian Red. I think New Glarus' entire beer lineup is great, but their fruit forward beers are unmatched in that beer category. With half a pound of Door County Cherries in every bottle, for this sauce we leaned into the beer's fruit-forward profile and paired it with smoky chipotle peppers, creating a sauce that’s sweet up front, slightly tangy in the middle, and finishes with a slow, lingering burn.

True Door Country cherries would be better... but I didn't have that and was impatient

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup New Glarus Belgian Red

• ½ cup cherry preserves (bonus points if you can get Door Country cherry preserves)

• 2 tbsp brown sugar

• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 1–2 chipotles in adobo, minced (plus a little adobo sauce)

• ½ tsp smoked paprika

• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper (optional, for more heat)

• 1 tbsp butter (optional for smooth finish)

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 beer: Pour Belgian Red into a saucepan, simmer about 5 minutes to reduce and intensify flavor.

2. Add the rest: Stir in preserves, brown sugar, vinegar, Worcestershire, garlic, chipotle, paprika, and cayenne.

3. Simmer on low: Let it cook 15–20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thickened and glossy.

4. Finish with butter: remove the sauce from the heat and stir in butter for shine and smoothness.

5. Blend (optional): for a smoother sauce, hit this with an immersion blender

The Result:

This sauce was THICK! I think maybe next time I'd consider a full cup of the beer to make it a bit saucier. There was great balance of sweet, smoke, and heat on these resulting in a very tasty sauce. While I tossed my deep fried wings with these, I actually think this sauce would work better on a grilled wing, just make sure to brush on in the last few min of cooking as to not burn this sugary sauce.

Our Belgian Red Door County Cherry Bomb is in the foreground (the Pineapple IPA in the background)

Score:

For me, the sweet and smoky profile of this sauce ventures a bit too close to BBQ sauce territory for me. I like BBQ sauce, but for whatever reason I'm not the biggest fan of BBQ sauce on chicken wings, no idea why. Nonetheless, I do think this sauce is tasty none the less, so I'll score it a 7 out of 10.