Ginger Beer Can Chicken

Beer can chicken is one of those culinary staples that most people who cook either have made or eventually will get around to making. Many recipes for beer can chicken are for the grille, some (including mine) are for the oven, but most are similar; there just aren’t that many different ways to put a beer can up the back end of a chicken.

Still, wanting to do something different with this fun and interesting cooking method, I made “Ginger Beer Can Chicken.” It uses the classic beer can chicken approach of baking a chicken with spice rub on its outside and a beverage can in its body cavity to provide a moist, flavorful inside, but replaces the beer with ginger beer and uses a spice rub combination that’s compatible with that. (Ginger beer, for anyone not familiar with it, is a soft drink that’s something like ginger ale but with a much stronger bite and more complex taste and color.) I admit “ginger beer can chicken” is something of a misnomer, since ginger beer normally comes in a bottle. For this recipe, the ginger beer should be poured into an empty soda or beer can.