Rosemary and Bay Ale

[Tarmac]

Has anyone tried this Andy Hamilton recipe?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/ ... ningadvice

I'm doing my very own Oktober fest for friends and fancy throwing something a bit different in there.

[seymour]

Has anyone tried this Andy Hamilton recipe?...

Not yet, but it sounds delicious. Go for it, and keep us posted!

[Tarmac]

Will do. hope to get it on next week when I've freed up an FV

[Capn Ahab]

NOOOOOOO!!!!

Andy Hamilton's rosemary beer is famous on the bristol homebrew scene for all the wrong reasons! Trust me, it is vile

I think he has moved on to doing 'proper' beer now, though he seems a bit reticent about sharing....

[Manx Guy]

Hi!

I really dont want to rain on your parade or discourage you from experiemnting...

(and here is the BUT) I tried several 'country beer' recipes including nettle ale etc and they were all pretty horrible...


Rosemary and Bay ale sounds like it will simply taste of dirt and rosemary - but I hope I'm wrong...
Bay and thyme are overrated as herbs INMHO.

Fair warning - these might be ok for druidy types to get locked on but I can't see them replacing 'proper' beer with malt and hops!

All that said I'll be interested to hear how it goes and what you make of the finished product!

Guy

[Capn Ahab]

I tried several 'country beer' recipes including nettle ale etc and they were all pretty horrible...


Rosemary and Bay ale sounds like it will simply taste of dirt and rosemary - but I hope I'm wrong...
Bay and thyme are overrated as herbs INMHO.

Fair warning - these might be ok for druidy types to get locked on but I can't see them replacing 'proper' beer with malt and hops!

Hands up who likes beer that tastes of Night Nurse!!!

BTW Guy, thyme is an underrated herb. Goes with everything (except beer).

[Tarmac]

Wow! Thanks for the warning guys.

I'm still going to experiment (and feed it to my friends) but I think a mini batch of about 5 litres will do and I'll save my malt for something else.

[Capn Ahab]

I could be completely wrong of course. I only tried his rosemary beer, so perhaps due to some alchemy and magic the bay leaves turn it into heavenly nectar! (somehow I doubt it though)

Updates as and when please!

[alikocho]

I've had both the Rosemarry and the Rosemary and Bay brewed by said author. Both were foul (although some of this came from poor practice), and I've seen a number of people spray it accross a room.

[boingy]

I'm slightly confused that the recipe comes from a book called "Booze for Free" but requires 1.5kg of malt extract, some golden syrup and some ale yeast, none of which are free. if you've bought that lot you might as well add a quids worth of hops, make some nice beer and save the herbs for cooking...

[seymour]

I'm slightly confused that the recipe comes from a book called "Booze for Free" but requires 1.5kg of malt extract, some golden syrup and some ale yeast, none of which are free. if you've bought that lot you might as well add a quids worth of hops, make some nice beer and save the herbs for cooking...

Ha, ha! I had a similar thought, boingy. Maybe he shows up somewhere with his essential herbs and begs a sorta "Stone Soup" scenario

[Capn Ahab]

It goes without saying that no booze comes for free when pre-processed sugars are in the mix. Most 'wines/beers' I have tried where the bulk of the fermentable sugar is sucrose have tasted pretty rank. There's no substitute imo for the complexity you get out of sugars derived directly from apples, grapes or grain. I've also yet to try a mead that I liked, or more importantly could imagine a situation where I would choose to drink it.

I think Andy's schtick is about getting people who have never tried brewing anything to have a go at something easy, even if it ends up a struggle to drink. In the early days of bristol brewing circle we used to choke back all kinds of muck, but it got us drunk, and got me into proper brewing. Thankfully it is all beer now!

[Dr. Dextrin]

If you really want to mix rosemary and beer, do it this way...

In the next month or so, go out to the hedgerows and gather some crab apples. Make some crab apple jelly and flavour it by putting sprigs of rosemary in towards the end. Then seal it in jars.

Serve the previously prepared jelly with roast meat (pork is excellent) accompanied by a pint of beer you've brewed properly.

Crab apple and rosemary jelly is the best thing you can make with rosemary. Beer might well be the worst.

[Capn Ahab]

If you really want to mix rosemary and beer, do it this way...

In the next month or so, go out to the hedgerows and gather some crab apples. Make some crab apple jelly and flavour it by putting sprigs of rosemary in towards the end. Then seal it in jars.

Serve the previously prepared jelly with roast meat (pork is excellent) accompanied by a pint of beer you've brewed properly.

F#ck me, I can't shift the thought of roast pork, crabapple jelly and beer from my head now! I'll have to make do with just beer then...

[boingy]

Me too. I do have a nice hunk of belly pork in the freezer but it's probably a bit late to get it out, defrost it and then slow roast it for 6 or 7 hours, giving it a good blast of heat at the end to crisp up the crackling... ;p