Calaguala Ale
Calaguala, A.K.A. samambaia, is a tropical fern with many healing properties. Combined with cinchona bark — herbal quinine — this ought to be “good for what ales you.”
experimental beers with a botanical twist
Bottling beer is complex enough without having to worry about cleaning all the bottles yet. If they’re already clean, all they need is a soak in sanitizer solution.
This was the first time in many years that I didn’t carefully weigh and measure everything and write it all down for future reference. But I have to say, it felt liberating not to.
It’s, uh, crisp and floral, medium-bodied, dry! (Can it be all those things at the same time? You sure hope so.)
Metheglin = spiced mead. A very festive drink.
The small tree known as sassafras (Sassafras albidum) was once one of the most prized plants of North America.
Aniseroot (Osmorhiza longistylis), a close relative of sweet cicely (O. claytonia), would represent a new brewing ingredient for me, and I can’t find any mention of its use as a brewing herb online or in print.
A partial mash-extract beer featuring a great many delicious spices.
Braggot is half beer, half mead. I brewed this way back on July 24, 2002, when honey was cheap and when my technique involved a LOT of herbs, usually including roasted dandelion root.
During this maize beer communion, in place of “happy Easter,” the Raramuri will say to one another “bosasa” – “fill up, be satisfied, be contented.”
John Gerard in his Herbal did not stint in portrayals of plants for which the only “vertues” were aesthetic.
Even before I read the column, I found myself saying the words “Zulu Brew Route” out loud, over and over.