experimental beers with a botanical twist
Such a delight to discover a widely used Mexican herb, hoja santa or Mexican pepperleaf, that has nearly the same taste as sassafras! It helps me bridge the cultural gap between Pennsylvania, where I brewed this, and Oaxaca, whose mole negro recipe inspired this twist on chocolate stout.
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.
A terroir-ific beer using herbs from the back forty (sweetfern and mugwort) and locally grown base malt from Appalachian Malting in Portage, PA.
Brewed on 6 July 2018 in London, with sloes picked and frozen the previous year. I added juniper berries too, because gin.
Fraoch, or heather ale, is a legendary unhopped beer from Scotland, said to date back to Pictish times.
One of the herbal beers I typically make, but using the yeast (kveik) from Norwegian farmhouse beer.
I realized the other day that I approach writing poetry the same way I approach brewing beer.
A hopped alcoholic root beer with mostly wild-harvested roots and herbs and a bock-ish grain bill.
A summer in London gave unparalleled opportunities to exploit terroir through local or regional malts, hops, herbs, fruit, and water.
