We’ve heard of a lot of special ingredients in beer lately — but we don’t think we’ve ever heard of a beer with garlic. If anyone could nail a beer made with garlic, it would be the beer experts of Birreria (the brewery located in Eataly) and Dogfish Head’s Sam Calagione.

The newest beer to be brewed at Eataly’s Birreria locations, Garlic Breadth is a collaboration with the ever-popular brewery Dogfish Head, and Calgione was more than happy explain the name. No, not for the bad breath-inducing garlic, but because “garlic is added throughout the breadth of the process,” said Calagione in a preview of the brew. The fermented black garlic is added during the “hot side” of the brewing process, the whirlpool, to impart the taste of garlic, and during the “cold side” of fermentation for the aroma.

Bierria and Dogfish Head procured the organic, raw black garlic from a farm in New Jersey, special to this porter-style brew. During the fermentation process, Calagione says, the garlic cloves become sweet, soft, and “black crack” (his words). “It tastes like a sweet, savory molasses,” he says. “It really imparts an umami flavor.”

All of which makes for an unusual, decidedly flavorful brew. At first pour, the porter (which registers just below 6% ABV)  has a rich, dark brown color with a small head. In fact, you might confuse it with just about any porter out there, until you get the first nose — and that’s where the garlic comes in. While it’s not an overwhelming aroma, the garlicky smell is definitely noticeable. The garlic stays with you from start to finish, but it’s more of a roasted garlic flavor; it adds a soft toastiness — rather than bitterness — to the beer. The finish has a slight aftertaste of garlic; not enough to make you frantically search for a breath mint, but just a hint of spice.

Garlic Breadth beer can now be found on draft and in casks at the Birreria Eataly location in New York City, the Birreria Eataly locations in Rome and Bari, Italy, and next month at the Eataly location opening in Chicago. And the best news of all: this seasonal beer, on tap until the end of October, will repeated on the Birreria beer lineup again next fall.

Photos by Marcy Franklin