by Aaron McClain
Editor’s note: We are pleased to feature this year-long series highlighting the most unique seasonal offerings brewed up by the wizards at Crafty Bastard and available at the business’s original and/or West Knox locations. Articles are provided by Crafty’s Aaron McClain and (lightly) edited by BLANK. Cheers!
“If you pick a pawpaw or a prickly pear/and you prick a raw paw/well next time beware.”
Unfortunately for many Tennesseans, “Bare Necessities,” the delightful song from “The Jungle Book,” has been their only interaction with this beguiling fruit. The American pawpaw – or the hillbilly mango as it is also affectionately known – is not the same fruit that Baloo sings about in the aforementioned song, however; the ever-affable and avuncular bear is referencing a nickname for papaya. And while Baloo’s favorite snack is delicious and readily available in grocery stores, they are not native to Tennessee.
Asimina triloba is a species that is native to Tennessee, although encountering one of these plants would leave one questioning that assertion. The long, frond-like leaves and the fleshy fruit that is something of a cross between a banana and a mango lead one to believe that this plant would be more at home in Brazil than in the mountains of East Tennessee. Compellingly, these fruits are not available commercially. The tree itself prefers very particular conditions, and the fruit has a ripe-to-rot time of mere hours, rendering commercial cultivation infeasible.
Crafty Bastard would not have been able to utilize this captivating fruit had it not been for a conversation between former Crafty brewer Nic Blais and Barry Robbins in 2017. I had long been entranced by the idea of utilizing these unique and somewhat bizarre fruits to enhance our beers. One night while sitting at the bar at Crafty, Nic overheard Barry talking about the large pawpaw batch in his backyard that produced more fruit than he could use. Nic immediately told Barry that we would be interested in bartering for his extra produce, and a series of beers was born.
Each year for approximately two weeks in late August and into early September, Barry walks through his patch every morning and collects the fruit that has fallen to the ground and immediately freezes them to preserve their delectable and elusive flavor for future use. Pawpaws are unique in the fact that they have to be allowed to fall to the ground. Trying to pick them from the tree yields a fruit that is astringent and bitter. The problem that incurs is that the fruit must be harvested very quickly after falling. Pawpaws are very tasty, and raccoons, deer, ants, squirrels, bears etc. will make quick work of these delicious treats if left on the ground for very long.
To date, we have used Barry’s pawpaws in a kolsch, a barrel-aged sour, and for this month’s release, a French-style saison. The unique notes of green banana and fleshy mango pair seamlessly with the light fruitiness and crisp finish of our saison. This brew will be on tap at both locations (6 Emory Place and 9937 Kingston Pike) while supplies last. I hope to have shed some light on this fascinating fruit, but to truly experience this peculiar and delicious piece of our native flora, stopping by to indulge in this creation is a necessity.
