Doug Freyburger
2011-08-16 18:22:33 UTC
A couple of months ago I put up a batch of ale spiced with woodruff
instead of hops. Hops have only been standard in ale for 4-5 centuries
so I wanted to try something more traditional. Consistant with that I
used woodruff and I measured it by volume of leaves for extra lack of
accuracy. Woodruff is the spiced used in German May wine.
The first sip - That's not right for an ale. The second sip - That's an
ale version of May wine. Third sip - I tried to target as low alcohol
as 3.2 beer but I managed just a bit lower than regular beer. Fourth
sip - It works prety good in sips let's take a glug. First glug - The
spice is a bit too strong, better stick with sipping. By the end up the
12 floz bottle - The occasional glug wasn't so bad after all. Final
judgment - Okay to hand out to friends who also homebrew or to friends
who are interested in all things German.
By the time I've gotten through 5 gallons I'm going to be pretty tired
of it. I got tired of a bottle of May wine about 2/3rds of the way
through but that had more alcohol. But it was a success. Not that I
have any specific plan to make woodruff ale again. Done that, liked it
okay, next. Maybe next year or the year after I'll try some different
spice of ancient tradition.
I think the next batch will be an all sorghum mead-like-stuff that i'll
be able to share with my friend who's allergic to honey.
I looked in my box of materials. There are a few Mr Beer Rootbeer kits.
I am not interested in using them. Free to a good home if you're in
Chicago metro. It'll be a while before I get around to trashing them.
instead of hops. Hops have only been standard in ale for 4-5 centuries
so I wanted to try something more traditional. Consistant with that I
used woodruff and I measured it by volume of leaves for extra lack of
accuracy. Woodruff is the spiced used in German May wine.
The first sip - That's not right for an ale. The second sip - That's an
ale version of May wine. Third sip - I tried to target as low alcohol
as 3.2 beer but I managed just a bit lower than regular beer. Fourth
sip - It works prety good in sips let's take a glug. First glug - The
spice is a bit too strong, better stick with sipping. By the end up the
12 floz bottle - The occasional glug wasn't so bad after all. Final
judgment - Okay to hand out to friends who also homebrew or to friends
who are interested in all things German.
By the time I've gotten through 5 gallons I'm going to be pretty tired
of it. I got tired of a bottle of May wine about 2/3rds of the way
through but that had more alcohol. But it was a success. Not that I
have any specific plan to make woodruff ale again. Done that, liked it
okay, next. Maybe next year or the year after I'll try some different
spice of ancient tradition.
I think the next batch will be an all sorghum mead-like-stuff that i'll
be able to share with my friend who's allergic to honey.
I looked in my box of materials. There are a few Mr Beer Rootbeer kits.
I am not interested in using them. Free to a good home if you're in
Chicago metro. It'll be a while before I get around to trashing them.