Specialty ingredients can be just about anything. There are beers where juniper bows are used as a filter bed, some beers have coffee in them or agave syrup. Many beers (the mass-marketed types included) that use corn or rice as a starch source (up to 40% of the grain bill) or sugars to increase alcohol and keep the finish dry. This list could keep going, and theres nothing wrong with this. Beer keeps evolving and keeps us drinkers on our toes. Some things probably should never go in beer, but experimenting is how we figure these things out. Home brewers and small craft brewers have the advantage of trying whatever we want, where the big guys have overhead, markets, consumers, and profits to worry about.​