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Listen, anyone who has been to a State Fair anywhere in the Midwest (which includes North Texas, I believe) can attest to the fact that absolutely anything can be fried.
It doesn’t matter if it should be fried, only that it can be, because my friends…just about anything tastes better after being introduced to some batter and hot oil.
I say that as a Midwesterner, but even I am skeptical about this fried beer concoction.
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The invention comes courtesy of Texas Mark Zable, who was scanning a bar menu with his wife around the year 2000. They weren’t inspired by the food options, and he laughingly made the comment that fried beer should be a thing.
For some reason, his wife said that sounded like a great idea – especially for the state fair – and, my friends, a journey began.
State Fair food was in Zable’s blood. His father opened a Belgian waffle stand in the 1960s, and Zable ran it for several decades afterward. He’s entered items like sweet jalapeño corn dog shrimp and chocolate-covered strawberry waffle balls in the Big Tex Choice Awards, but was still looking for that prize-winning, heart-attack-inducing food.
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It turned out, though, that fried beer wasn’t as easy to make work as one might think. Zable spent more than two years working on a way to envelop and fry the beer, and it was actually his 4-year-old son who inspired the final choice – soft pretzel dough.
He pressed it into a pocket that looks sort of like a ravioli, and according to him, “It tastes just like eating a pretzel with a beer.”
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In 2010, Zable took home the award for “Most Creative,” while “Texas Fried Fritos Pie” won “Best Taste.”
The two beat out fried frozen margaritas, fried lemonade, and fried club salad – and I’m going to stop talking, because all I’m convincing y’all to do is head down to Arlington for the next Texas State Fair.
Have fun, y’all. Pack a spare artery, because you’re going to need it.
