Beer Can Chicken

After
Before

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken (4-5 pounds)
1 12 ounce can beer (room temperature)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, crushed
Juice of 1 lemon

For Rub:
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, ground
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

Preparation:

Combine all rub ingredients in a small mixing bowl. Set aside.
Remove giblets and the neck from chicken. Sprinkle all over with rub, including cavity. Open can of beer and discard half of it. Place, minced garlic, rosemary, thyme, lemon juice, and pepper flakes in it. Make sure to pierce two more holes on the top of beer can. Place chicken on top of can.

Preheat grill. Place birds grill balanced by the beer cans. Grill over indirect medium heat for 1 1/2 to 2 hours until internal temperature of thigh is 180 degrees. Remove chicken when finished cooking and let sit (with beer can still intact), for 10 minutes before carving.

** Put potatoes, carrots or any other vegetable in the bottom of the pan with the chicken. Those were the best carrots I've ever had. I wish I would have put potatoes in with it.

The Results:

Awesome chicken. I put my chicken on the grill and covered it for about 1 1/2 hours. Depends really on how big your chicken is. Mine was 5lbs. I did use beer but you could also use Coke or Dr. Pepper. The chicken was super moist and the carrots I put on the bottom of the pan were so good. I put my chicken on a throw away foil pan. I also wadded up some foil and put it in the neck of the chicken to keep all the steam in. It was so moist and tender. It went perfect with my green beans and leftover roasted garlic mashed potatoes. I got the recipe from http://bbq.about.com/od/chickenrecipes/r/bl50727a.htm