Deep Fried - Beer?

... a patent for the process is pending. He declined to say whether any special ingredients were involved.

Odd statement.  A patent app must include a specification such that one of ordinary skill in the art could make or use the invention.  That requires disclosing the so-called "best mode" of the invention.  In other words, he had a duty to disclose to the USPTO the use of any "special ingredients."  If he is withholding preferred embodiments, he cannot obtain a patent, or the one that issues will ultimately be invalid and unenforceable.  Its either bs about the patent app, or he submitted a lame-ass provisional app which cannot be the basis for an enforceable utility app.

So yeah, Tote, it probably is part joke.  (Although, to paraphrase the Supreme Court, you "can patent anything under the sun, made by man", including cooking techniques)