What goes better with fresh, local beer than a handmade, beer-flavored bratwurst made at Midtown Market? Not much, as far as the folks at Dry Ground Brewing Company are concerned.

We’ve been making handmade sausage at Midtown Market for quite some time. Polish and Portuguese sausages have been on our list of specialties almost since we opened our doors. We decided to mix things up a bit when Dry Ground Brewing Co. opened its doors just a block or so up the road from us. We thought it would be nice to join forces with the local brew masters there to create some of the most flavor-filled beer brats this town has ever tasted. 

"We wanted to provide Paducah with the same quality meats that one would normally only find in larger cities,” Midtown Market butcher Ricky Rowell says. “A lot of our customers travel, and will come in and tell us what they were able buy on vacation. Homemade sausages were something we began getting requests for. Knowing that our pork is a better quality than what most places in town are offering we knew it would be beneficial for us to give it a shot.”

Our efforts have resulted in the applause from many happy customers! We can barely keep our case filled with the many flavors of sausages we make here in the store.

The ingredient list for our delicious, handmade beer brats is simple. Ricky has trained his culinary team on how to select the freshest, best ingredients for the handmade sausages we stuff and sell at the store.

We use all-natural, grass-finished beef and all-natural pork. That means that no hormones, no antibiotics, no nitrites or nitrates go into the production of these sausages. We spend about a day mixing together our house blend of spices which includes smoked paprika, fresh sage, nutmeg, black pepper and mustard. We throw in a growler of Iron Tree beer and produce about 100 pounds of the finest all-natural beer brats you’ll find this side of the Mississippi.

It would be easy to go back to carrying only national brands, but we don’t see much fun in that. Instead, we like to take our culinary skills to task. That’s why we make so many of our products in-house, including these handmade, gluten-free Iron Tree beer brats.

For the richest flavor, try these simple cooking tips for preparing Iron Tree beer brats.

1.      Boil the brats in Iron Tree beer and throw in a few onions for additional flavor.

2.      Once you’ve boiled the brats you can either eat as prepared or throw them on the grill for a smokier flavor.