This Years Weirdest Texas State Fair Fried Food – And Drink

The Texas State Fair has come and gone but, hopefully, someone learns how to make this tasty treat and keeps it going somewhere, somehow.

The Texas State Fair is always fun, always packed and always loaded with delicious and ... "interesting", shall we say ... food and drink options. This item is both.

Across the board, State Fairs serve up some crazy stuff but this particular dish from the 2024 Texas State Fair is not only pretty good, it could get you pretty loaded.

It's not often fried goodies lead to needing a designated driver but, with this one, that could be the case ... and nobody is really sure how it's made. We're talking about deep fried hops 'n barley here. Yep, fried beer.

Local foodie Mark Zable invented this, applied for a patent on it in 2010 and had to clear sales with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.

Bearing resemblance to a deep-fried ravioli or pretzel pocket, the food consists of small pillows of dough encasing still-liquid Guinness. Fried for only 20 seconds, a bite tastes of soft, salty dough, that then bursts with the flavor of now tangy-warmed beer. Sure, it's not a food meant to appeal to everyone, but it's undeniably intriguing and innovative. - chowhound

So much so that, it won Zable the Texas State Fair's "Most Creative" award back in 2010. According to Chowhound.com, it took him about 3 years to perfect it and amateurs have been trying to "deconstruct" it ever since.

The secret is, apparently, the dough. If you want to take a shot at doing it yourself, you can pick up a couple of hints here.