This beautiful hand crafted Beer Spike is individually made by a crafter in Germany who we had the pleasure to meet on our trip to BrauBeville in November 2023.

We had seen videos online previously showing how a Beer Spike works but never had the chance to try and beer that it had been used on.

After tasting a lovely Bock before spiking and after we decided that this was something we really wanted to make available to you and the rest of the UK community of brewers.

What is Beer Spiking?

It dates back to an ancient tradition from the world of smithing: if the blacksmith found the beer too cold when he poured, then without further ado he would immerse a red-hot piece of iron (such as a poker) in it in order to bring his drink to a more agreeable temperature for consumption. Since the iron was often a pointed poker, the procedure was soon called “spiking.”

Beyond the origin the process then progressed to inns and pubs, and in recent years it has been featuring again at beer festivals by breweries like Siren Craft.

The result is the same as it’s always been: the searing heat causes the residual sugar to caramelise, and lends the beer a soft, more intensive taste.

How to use your Beer Spike

A Beer Spike is best used on dark beers, beers that are malty, beers that contain a good portion of residual sugars. Think Belgian Dubbel, Stout, Bock, Belgian Tripel, Barley Wine, Imperial Russian Stout.

Your 20cm Medium sized Beer Spike comes supplied in a hand made wooden storage box.

You can heat your Beer Spike using either an open fire or a blow torch (using food grade gas).

Be sure you check out YouTube for videos of how this is done