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.
experimental beers with a botanical twist
Herbs and spices
Summer Meadow Ale
My idea was to flavor a summer ale with a mix of common meadow plants, all gathered at the time of brewing, and thereby to try and capture the essence of a midsummer meadow. Much to my own surprise, I seem to have succeeded on the first attempt!
Ground Ivy Gruit Ale
I’ve never found ground ivy to be anywhere near as bitter as the books say, but it could be the wild stuff I use tastes different from British or cultivated varieties.
Mugwort Chamomile Oatmeal Stout
My tasting notes say only “very tasty and strong,” but the fact that I still remember how good it was five years later ought to tell you something.
Juniper-Ginger Beer
Juniper forms the dominant note, resiny and vaguely citrusy, supported by the camphor quality of yarrow and the spiciness of ginger. The bitterness is mild, equivalent roughly to a standard wheat beer.
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.”
Beer Tasting 101: Yarrow Sarsaparilla Ale
It’s, uh, crisp and floral, medium-bodied, dry! (Can it be all those things at the same time? You sure hope so.)
Sassafras beer: a short history
The small tree known as sassafras (Sassafras albidum) was once one of the most prized plants of North America.
Digging for beer
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.
Yarrow Gruit Braggot Ale
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.
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