Beer of the Moment: Fifth Ward’s Pibber Jibber

This is the first in what will be an ongoing series of posts I’m writing about local beer for the Visit Oshkosh website. These are not intended as critical reviews or endorsements. Their purpose is to provide a glimpse into the local beer culture for people considering a visit to Oshkosh. I’m also posting them here with the aim of building an overview of the sort of beers that are being made in Oshkosh now. I’ve attempted to do something like this in the past, but with little success; due largely to my lack of enthusiasm for certain types of beer. That won’t be a problem this time. Most of the beers I’ll write about in this series are going to be selected by the brewer who made it. And with that, I give you this...

We’re serious about our beer in Oshkosh, but that doesn't mean the brewers here are above having some fun with it. Case in point: Pibber Jibber, which was just released by Fifth Ward Brewing Company at 1009 S. Main Street in Oshkosh.

Pibber Jibber is a 6% ABV ale brewed with peanuts, graham crackers, and concord grape juice. It drinks like the distillation of a toasted peanut butter and jelly sandwich. So much for serious. Yet, this isn’t just a liquid wisecrack. It’s part of an ongoing pursuit of flavor.

Ian Wenger and Zach Clark, who launched Fifth Ward in 2017, came to brewing from the culinary world. Ever since, they've been drawing from an expansive range of ingredients more common to the kitchen than the brewhouse.

"As usual, we are trying to find new and different flavors, which is pretty difficult in this craft beer flavor dystopia we find ourselves in now," Wenger says. "But honestly, I think it's one of the best peanut butter beers we've made and easily the best PB&J beer I've had."

There’s a dab of local tradition in there, too. The base beer at the foundation of Pibber Jibber was produced using a method long-ago favored by Southside Oshkosh brewers who made tangy "White Beer” here beginning in the 1860s. Those old-timers, though, would never have dreamed of a peanut-butter beer. It’s not that they lacked imagination. Peanut butter didn’t reach America until the 1890s. Given the opportunity, they might have made their own Pibber Jibber.