Thoughts: Aqua Vitae is first mentioned in the Irish annals in 1405, when a chieftain apparently died of over-drinking the stuff. By the time of Henry VIII, it had moved from a wine-based distillation to a grain-based one. The name is a partial Anglicizing of the Gaelic “uisge beatha”, which, like “aqua vitae”, also means…
Hippocras Cider Pancakes
I always like to try and use whatever is left from brewing in a cooking recipe of some sort, and this one is great! It made fruity, flavorful little pancakes just begging to be doused in maple syrup. Yum! Ingredients: 2 cups dredge from Hippocras of Cider 1 egg 1 tsp. baking powder pinch salt…
Hippocras of Cider, 1676
“You may make Hippocras of Cider thus: take of cardamoms, carpobalsamum, of each half an ounce, coriander seeds, nutmegs, ginger, of each two ounces, cloves two drachmes, bruise and infuse them two days in two gallons of the riches sweet cider, often stirring it together, then add thereto of milk three pints; strain all through…
Birch Wine
Thoughts: Last spring, I caused a near scandal in our small town when I tapped the birch tree in front of our new house. The locals scoffed, thinking I couldn’t tell the difference between a maple and a birch. My husband and I had to go down to the breakfast place to casually mention that…
Beer, c. 1577
“Having therefore groond eight bushels of good malt upon our querne, where the toll is saved, she addeth unto it half a bushel of wheat meale, and so much of otes small groond, and so tempereth or mixeth them with the malt, that you cannot easily discerne the one from the other, otherwise these…
Bochet – Burnt Honey Mead, 1393
Thoughts: The smell of this mead in progress is awesome. The whole house smells of toffee and burnt sugar, and, inexplicably, brownies, and the delicious aroma lasts for days. Coming home to that smell is a joy. When it’s bottled, the color is very dark, like a porter, but with incredible clarity. The flavor is…
Digby’s Spiced Apple Cider
Thoughts: This recipe is loosely based on a direct recipe from Digby. In what I now believe was a misreading of the original, I decided to try what I thought was a spiced cider. The fact that there was no list of ingredients for a hippocras in Digby ought to have tipped me off, but…
Elvish White Mead
Now Galadriel rose from the grass, and taking a cup from one of her maidens she filled it with white mead and gave it to Celeborn. “Now it is time to drink the cup of farewell,” she said. “Drink Lord of the Galadrim!…” Then she brought the cup to each of the Company, and…
Counterfeit Malvoisie
“Daenerys held out her cup for Irri to refill. The wine was sweet and strong, redolent with the smell of eastern spices, much superior to the thin Ghiscari wines that had filled her cup of late.” -A Dance with Dragons, p. 204 Thoughts: Oh my. Sweet, redolent with spices, and completely different from anything I’ve…
Yorkshire Oat Ale
Thoughts: When I saw this for the first time, I thought that something got lost in this recipe’s time travel. The malted oats are cold mashed, which is very unusual in brewing. Since I’m such a fan of the strange historical recipes, I figured I would give it a go, and see what happened….
Cooking: Kvass Crackers
Thoughts: They’re actually pretty good! They are a smidge chewy fresh from the oven, with a more muted rye flavor than the bread from which it started. They’re excellent with a bit of sharp, hard cheese, washed down with a bit of beer. They turn quite hard by the next day, but could easily be…
Kvass
Thoughts: Quirky, but it grows on you. It smells like plain rye bread, so the sweetness of the honey is somewhat surprising at first taste. I thought the mint would be more prevalent, but it reduces to just a hint, combining with the sweetness of honey and apple. There’s some fizziness from the residual carbonating,…
Game of Brews 