Beer Can Chicken

 Beer + Chicken + Roasted Chile's = Great Summer Meal

A few years ago while visiting my buddy,  Dave La Rue,  in Minneapolis  for his 50th birthday celebration, I caught a segment on public TV about " Beer Can Chicken."   It looked fantastic so I came home and researched this BBQ oddity on the internet.  Like most of my recipes, this is a merge of the best and has been refined over the years through trial and error along with feedback from family and friends.

What makes this method stand out is the fresh rosemary, lemon zest and liberal use of red pepper flakes.  The first couple of times I did this I had to put the chicken back on the grill so be careful.  Make sure your chicken is pulling away from the bone and the juices are running clear prior to serving.

Ingredients- 
Chicken first, then Rub...


1 Whole Roasting Chicken (4-5 pounds)
1 Twelve ounce can of your favorite beer
2 teaspoons olive oil
4 Cloves of minced garlic
3-4 Sprigs of Fresh Rosemary cut to fit in the can
1 Teaspoon dried Thyme
1 Tablespoon Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
1 Lemon Quartered


Rub
1 teaspoon Szeged Hot Paprika
1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
1 teaspoon Garlic Salt
1 Tablespoon Old Bay Seasoning
1 Tablespoon Fresh Chopped Rosemary
1 teaspoon dried Thyme
1 teaspoon fresh ground Black Pepper
1 teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
Zest of one whole Lemon


 Note-  I make this rub in large quantities and hold back the lemon zest and fresh rosemary until  the day I make my chicken.  It will keep in a good mason jar for several months and I usually make a good batch of it at the beginning of summer.


Remove the giblets etc. from the chicken, rinse well and pat dry with a paper towel.  Sprinkle liberal amounts of the rub all over the chicken both inside and out and set aside.  Open your beer can with an old style church key and pour out or drink about half the beer.  Fill the beer can with garlic cloves, spices, olive oil and and cut up lemon.  Place Chicken on top of beer can.   Ray, Cherie's dad and my grilling mentor, bought me a couple of really cool stainless steel stands just for this dish and I believe they were purchased at Cost Plus but can be found online.  For what it's worth, Ray fondly refers to this as "beer in the butt chicken"...enough said.

Old Smokey BCCH, Silver Beer Can Chicken Holder

$7

This very cool and inexpensive device keeps both the chicken and beer can stable simplifying the whole process.  Though not mandatory, quite useful and a must if you become addicted .


Preheat grill and place chickens over indirect medium heat for 1 1/2 to 2 hours until your instant read thermometer reads 160-180 degrees in the thickest part of the bird. I use a disposable aluminum pan for easy clean up but be very careful as you can't lift the pan off the grill with the bird inside as the pans tend to be flimsy and will collapse.


We served our drunken birds with a nice pasta salad  mixed with, fresh roasted green chile's, tomatoes, thinly sliced red onions and Feta Cheese.  Sprinkle the salad with some fresh chopped cilantro and drizzle with olive oil  and red wine vinegar and voila: instant cool summer salad compliments of Cherie.


Let the bird rest for at least 5 minutes before carving and enjoy!

The Final Product is Juicy and Delicious!