Thoughts: I was delighted to find this recipe, which dates back to 1717, in The Accomplished Housekeeper. I made a batch, and after a few months was terribly disappointed to find it harsh and not at all pleasant to drink. Dejected, I put the bottle away, and wrote it off as a failure. Happily, I recently…
Month: April 2013
Greywater Watch Gruit
Thoughts: When I heard about gruit, a historical hopless ale, I knew I wanted to try it. And then, the more I learned about it, the cooler it became. Gruit waned in use as the popularity of hops grew throughout the Middle Ages, but has enjoyed somewhat of a revival as a result of the…
Ginger Wine, round 1
Thoughts: The color is nearly clear, crystaline by homebrewed fruit wine standards, with just the slightest tint of yellow-green. It has a sort of sharp acidity on the first taste, followed by a bit of ginger flavor. I couldn’t quite pin the oddly familiar set of flavors, but then it hit me. It tastes like…
Last Hearth Heather Ale
In our world, heather ale (or Fraoch, the gaelic word for “heather”) was enjoyed by the ancient Picts in what is now Scotland. With various conquests and later laws, the original recipes for Fraoch were lost. As the legend goes, the Pictish king, when taken captive, leapt from a cliff rather than share the secret of…
Game of Brews 