Beer: Sword Swallower
Brewery: Shmaltz Brewing Company
Style: Experimental
Suggested Glassware: Pint Glass
Sword Swallower is one of the “Freak” beers from Shmaltz Brewing Company’s line of themed brews inspired by the freak show on Coney Island. Great labeling is the first thing that catches your eye with any of their beers. This one pays homage to Heather Holiday a real life performer in the show.

All of the beers in this line are hybrids between lager and ale as an experiment in craft brewing. Sword Swallower is a strong IPA recipe using lager yeast, which is brewed at lower temperatures. At 6.8 ABV it’s pretty high in alcohol content, but is very drinkable and you could definitely have more than one. I found this to be very interesting and will definitely enjoy more.
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brian | Friday, April 3, 2009
i just saw this last night at my local beer shop for the first time, I’ll need to try it out.
Julie | Friday, April 3, 2009
sounds great!
Chuck P. | Monday, April 6, 2009
The idea of a hybrid lager/ale sounds cool. I will pick some up.
Zak Davis | Friday, April 10, 2009
Hey all. This is Zak from Shmaltz Brewing Company, the makers of the Coney Island Craft Lagers. We’ve had a great time with all of these beers. They’re not actually lager/ale hybrids. What we’ve done is take classic ale styles, and play with them a bit and then brew them with lager yeasts. It’s made for some delicious brews. Cheers all!