Author: Dave Bonta

Mexican American Ale

Mexican American Ale

Hibiscus flowers, Mexican giant hyssop, and epazote or Mexican-tea together impart an amazing floral taste, a bit of citrus-like tartness, and a rich pink color to this lightly hopped beer.

Appalachian Gruit Stout

Appalachian Gruit Stout

A terroir-ific beer using herbs from the back forty (sweetfern and mugwort) and locally grown base malt from Appalachian Malting in Portage, PA.

Sloe Stout

Sloe Stout

Brewed on 6 July 2018 in London, with sloes picked and frozen the previous year. I added juniper berries too, because gin.

Belgian Gale Ale

Belgian Gale Ale

Sweet gale or bog myrtle is a classic northern European gruit ingredient.

Fraoch Porter

Fraoch Porter

Fraoch, or heather ale, is a legendary unhopped beer from Scotland, said to date back to Pictish times.

Gruit Ale with Kveik

Gruit Ale with Kveik

One of the herbal beers I typically make, but using the yeast (kveik) from Norwegian farmhouse beer.

Abbey Gruit Ale

Abbey Gruit Ale

One of my typical gruit blends meets White Labs Trappist Ale (aka Monastery) yeast.

Brewing, writing, thinking

Brewing, writing, thinking

I realized the other day that I approach writing poetry the same way I approach brewing beer.

Chicory Stout

Chicory Stout

Coffee stout, but with chicory.

Appalachian True Root Beer

Appalachian True Root Beer

A hopped alcoholic root beer with mostly wild-harvested roots and herbs and a bock-ish grain bill.

The terroir of London homebrewing

The terroir of London homebrewing

A summer in London gave unparalleled opportunities to exploit terroir through local or regional malts, hops, herbs, fruit, and water.

Elderberry Wheat Beer

Elderberry Wheat Beer

Since I’d made elderflower wheat beer at the beginning of the summer, I had to make elderberry wheat beer from the same backyard tree at the end of the summer.