Brewing with red raspberries: two approaches
Red raspberry imperial mugwort stout and raspberry-black currant wheat beer.
experimental beers with a botanical twist
Herbs and spices
Alcoholic root beer, Prohibition-style
A light, refreshing, warming beverage with a very well-balanced flavor profile. Does it taste like root beer? Not really; there’s nothing caramelly about it. More like a spiced pilsner.
Meadowsweet, Heather and Gentian Gruit
This was my other stand-out beer of the winter 2014-15 brewing season. The idea was to make a vaguely Neolithic-style ale inspired by archaeological findings in Britain.
Fugwort Stout (A.K.A. Muggle Stout)
This was one of my two most successful experiments of the winter brewing season, and the first I’ve used hops in fifteen years. I wanted to make it basically because the portmanteaus amused me, but as it happened, mugwort and Fuggles hops go together in more ways than just linguistically.
Dark Lager with Mugwort
An unhopped lager. The herbs are assertive but not overpowering, and the bitterness is fairly low.
Sassafras-Black Birch Beer
Sassafras and black birch (i.e. wintergreen, more or less) are the dominant notes here; the other flavors blend into a citrusy background. This is a refreshing, summery drink, a bit acidic — imagine a cross between unsweetened herb tea and a nice mild ale.
Juniper-Yarrow ESB (Extra Scandinavian Bitter)
Is there such a thing as a juniper head (like a hop head)? I think I could become one.
New “ancient ale” from Dogfish Head revives hybrid Scandinavian grog
Fascinating to see yarrow already in use as a brewing herb 3500 years ago. Here, it’s in combination with several bog plants: sweet gale, meadowsweet, cranberries and lingonberries.
Mugwort Spicebush Stout
Mugwort and Indian sarsaparilla are an excellent combination; that’s why I brew with them so often.
Sweet flag
The aroma was unmistakable, musky and strong, with hints of nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon—the quintessence of spice.
Meadow in a bottle
Up until that moment, I’d been intending to make some kind of very standard beer style—an IPA or a porter—and simply substitute yarrow for the usual hops.
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