Saltwater Brewery - What's Brewing

November is Southern month: we open with a Lowcountry boil

New month, new theme at the Thursday Night Table. November is Southern American month, and it opens the way a lot of Southern gatherings do: one big pot, a table covered in paper, and everyone eating with their hands. A Lowcountry boil is shrimp, red potatoes, corn and smoked sausage cooked in stages in one seasoned broth, then drained and dumped straight onto the table. It comes from the coast of South Carolina and Georgia, where it's also called Frogmore stew, after a community on St. Helena Island.

Ours steams in LocAle. The weather finally cooperates in November, so this is a cook for the backyard, with a propane burner if you have one or the biggest pot on your stove if you don't. The brewery has no kitchen (food on site comes from the rotating food trucks), so the pot is yours.

The beer: LocAle, Golden Ale, 3.7% ABV / 25 IBU

LocAle is our Golden Ale, 3.7% ABV and 25 IBU, and steaming is its home turf. Hop bitterness concentrates as a liquid boils down, which is why a 75 IBU IPA never goes in a long reduction. At 25 IBU, LocAle stays gentle, and in a boil it never reduces anyway: two cans go into four quarts of water, so the beer adds a soft malt and bread note to the broth instead of bite. The shrimp and potatoes drink it in.

Shopping list

Serves 6 to 8. Prep: about 20 minutes. Cook: about 40 minutes, including bringing the pot to a boil. You need a 12- to 16-quart stockpot, ideally with a strainer basket.

The broth

• 2 cans (12 oz each) LocAle Golden Ale
• 4 quarts water
• 1/3 cup Old Bay or your favorite seafood boil seasoning, plus more for dusting
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 2 lemons, halved
• 1 head garlic, halved crosswise
• 1 yellow onion, quartered

The boil

• 2 lb small red potatoes (halve any bigger than a golf ball)
• 1 lb smoked sausage (andouille or kielbasa), cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
• 4 ears corn, shucked and cut into thirds
• 2 lb large shell-on shrimp (16/20 count), deveined

To serve

• 4 tbsp butter, melted with 1 tsp of the seasoning
• Lemon wedges, cocktail sauce and hot sauce
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• Brown paper or newspaper to cover the table

About the cans. Two cans go into the pot. The rest go on ice for the table.

Shrimp boil, step by step

1. Build the broth. In a 12- to 16-quart stockpot, combine the water, both cans of LocAle, the seasoning and the salt. Squeeze the lemons into the pot and drop in the halves, then add the garlic and onion.
2. Bring it to a boil. Cover and bring to a rolling boil over high heat, about 15 to 20 minutes on a stove (faster on an outdoor burner). Uncover and let it boil 5 minutes so the seasoning blooms.
3. Potatoes first. Add the potatoes. Once the pot is back at a boil, cook 10 minutes.
4. Sausage and corn. Add the sausage and corn. Once it's back at a boil, cook 7 minutes, until a knife slides through a potato.
5. Shrimp last. Stir in the shrimp and cook 2 to 3 minutes, just until they turn pink and curl. Don't walk away.
6. Drain right away. Lift out the strainer basket or pour everything through a large colander. Shrimp left in hot broth keep cooking.
7. Dump it on the table. Cover the table with brown paper or newspaper and pour the boil down the middle. Pick out the lemon halves, garlic and onion, and dust everything with a little more seasoning.
8. Serve. Drizzle with the seasoned butter, scatter the parsley, and set out lemon wedges, cocktail sauce and hot sauce. Put a bowl out for shells.

Why the stages matter

Everything in the pot cooks at a different speed. Potatoes need the longest, so they go in alone. Sausage is already cooked and only needs to heat through and season the broth, and corn needs just a few minutes, so both go in together. Shrimp cook in two or three minutes and turn rubbery soon after, so they go in last and come out the moment they curl. Start each timer only when the pot is back at a boil, because every addition knocks the temperature down. Draining right away matters for the same reason: shrimp left sitting in hot broth keep cooking.

On the table with it

Drink what you steamed with: LocAle, ice cold, light enough to keep up with a pile of seasoned shrimp. For anyone skipping the beer, pour sweet tea over ice with a squeeze of lemon, the most Southern glass on the table.

What the beer leaves behind

Most of the alcohol cooks off, and most of the rest goes down the drain with the broth. USDA's Table of Nutrient Retention Factors puts the alcohol left after 30 minutes of simmering at about 35 percent of what went in, and here two cans of a 3.7% beer are spread through more than five quarts of liquid that you pour off. What clings to the food is a trace, not zero, which makes this a dinner for the whole table. Want none at all? Swap the two cans for 3 cups of chicken broth.

Thursday Table: 15% off LocAle to-go

Coming by? See what's on at the brewery this weekend before you head over.

Where to find LocAle

LocAle gets around South Florida, so ask for it wherever you buy beer, and if it isn't in the cooler, ask the shop whether they can order it. Or pick it up at the taproom at 1701 W. Atlantic Ave, Delray Beach, FL 33444, the first building off the I-95 Atlantic Ave exit.

Taproom hours: Mon 1–7 · Tue–Thu 12–10 · Fri–Sat 12–11 · Sun 12–8.

We don't ship beer or sell it online. The website is merch only, shipped within the USA.

Next Thursday, November 12, Southern month moves to Screamin' Reels, our West Coast IPA, as an overnight brine for fried chicken with a hot honey finish.

Please drink responsibly.