We all know that women were the first to make beer, right? It was discovered by accident when grains were used to make other foods digestible. Dried grain was stored and used to make bread. Some of the grain was exposed to water. This caused the yeast to ferment the sugars in the grain into alcohol. At some point, someone decided to take a sip of this fizzy, murky, sweet water called wort. The first buzz was experienced with this 2% ABV liquid. It was also discovered that this wort was free of the deadly bacteria found in other water sources. Because it was highly perishable, women started adding the first adjuncts to beer. They used bitter herbs, seeds, skunk cabbage, honey, and dates to prevent spoilage. They were found to add taste but were unpredictable in preservation. It was not until the High Middle Ages that Hildegard von Bingen, a German Benedictine Magistra and medical practitioner, revealed an additive that would change the future of beer making. Hildegard, in her studies, discovered that Humulus lupulus stopped deterioration and added a touch of bitterness. This extended the shelf life of beer for months.
This beer-making process continued for thousands of years across different civilizations and cultures, with women as the primary craft tenders. There is a captivating historical story linking ale women, aka alewives, to the modern-day witch. The story explains that women wore pointed hats to be noticed in crowded marketplaces. They had brooms they used as an open-for-business sign. They made the beer in large cauldrons and had cats around to fend off rodents. I will leave it up to you to decide if this is fact or fiction. The fact is, women wore large hats because it was a fashion trend. The brooms were used as a sign that the ale was ready. The cauldrons were just large vats. The cats were employees— the bouncers who guarded the grain.
Women continued to dominate this low-paying job until they mastered that craft and it became quite lucrative. Over several centuries, they were pushed out through social shaming, legislation, and the economy. The hop addition required costly, large equipment and space. Women weren’t allowed to access loans for this commercial business, nor were they allowed to own one.
Let’s speed things up a bit to the year 1999. Dogfish Head Brewing released the ever-so-amazing and not forgotten “Midas Touch.” This beer was part of Dogfish Head’s ancient series. This series began in collaboration with Dr. Patrick E. McGovern, a biomolecular archeologist. He studied pottery fragments to determine what past civilizations drank. What he found was a Turkish Tomb dated 27 centuries ago and believed to be King Midas’. Inside were vessels that were chemically analyzed. The ingredients discovered were adapted and used in the recipe created by Sam Calagoine, owner, founder, and head brewer of DFH. Barley, honey, saffron, white muscat grapes, and a touch of hops (only for legal classification as beer) were used to create this magical 9% elixir of a beer, wine, and mead. Keep your beer goggles on and alert, because DFH plans to re-release this beer in small batches sometime in October-November this year!
Dogfish Head Brewery also made Celeste-jewel-ale, a German-style Oktoberfest. This beer was a collaboration with ILC Dover, an aerospace manufacturer. ILC provided a special ingredient that provided flavor, fed the yeast, and helped fermentation. It was pieces of certified lunar meteorites! This lunarite is a piece of the moon that breaks off from an impact by a comet or an asteroid, orbits the Sun or Earth for thousands to millions of years, and is eventually drawn to Earth as a blazing rock. Wow! I am spellbound! ILC Dover made 10 koozies out of materials from NASA spacesuits. This was a borrow-and-return item that was available at the brewery’s brewpub in Delaware.
Some recipes have ingredients that are scary enough to cause a palatable nightmare. Denver, Colorado’s Wynkoop Brewing Company made a beer called Rocky Mountain Oyster Stout. I know you have some questions about this. The answer is yes: Each barrel was made with three roasted bull testicles. They only add a dash of salt to their nuts. If you are vegan and not craving a pint of shacks, they occasionally make a vegan version. It is said to have notes of chocolate, coffee, and roasted grains.
This isn’t the only ballsy brew. If you are a piscivore, you probably would have enjoyed a smoked beer brewed by the former Brugghús Steðja. Their beer, Hvalur 2, was brewed with whale testicles smoked over sheep dung. This ewe poo cooking technique is an Icelandic tradition. It doesn’t taint the beer and is just used as a fuel source. This beer is no longer made, and not because of the unethical and inhumane treatment of whales. The company used to hunt these marine animals paused operations due to lack of demand. The brewery has also closed its doors.
If that isn’t enough crap talk for you. Did you know that black ivory coffee beans have been fed to elephants to make coffee and beer? Un, Kono Kuro, an elephant dung coffee stout, was made by Sankt Gallen, a brewery located in Atsugi City, Japan. The process starts by adding Thai Arabica coffee cherries with bananas, tamarind, and rice. This was then fed to rescued elephants. This wilderness glitter was collected and added to the whirlpool, or during the conditioning for a cold steep.
The living fungus, yeast, is essential in making beer. It breaks down the complex carbohydrates in the grains used to make beer into fermentable sugars. Many professional brewers like John Maier, head brewer of Rogue Ales, make house yeast. This is called harvesting dreds or, in this case, dreadlocks. As a joke, he pulled nine hairs from his beard, sent them to a lab, and created the unique wild yeast strain he was looking for. This produced the ever-so-popular American wild ale, Rogue Beard Beer. The tasting notes are described as slightly tart with notes of banana, clove, and orange zest. I am bewhiskered and would have probably tried it. How about you?
All this talk has probably spooked your mind. Hold onto your brain. Dockstreet Brew Company used this organ in their Dock Street Walker. This 7.2% ABV American pale stout was made to pay tribute to the series “The Walking Dead.” Of course, animal organs were used, goats in particular. The brains were smoked and then added to the mash. Cranberries were added to the boil. The result was a silky, smoked stout with a slightly fruity finish. This spooky stout was a hit, selling out quickly.
Not all breweries can afford to experiment with different ingredients. Kevin Beachem, head brewer of Taproot Brewing, told me that they are equipped for adjunct brewing. “Taproot is really unique in that we are small enough to have the ability to really go off the wall with crazy ingredients, and if it comes out not to our liking, we just can not brew it ever again. With this experimentation, we have made some really fun and good beers from concepts and wild ideas! We also have access to our own homegrown produce, the winery (for barrels, grapes, and wine), and an amazing team of chefs that can assist us in creating something really special. Everything we do is basically made in-house, produced here, or locally sourced. I don’t know many breweries where you are able to say that, and I’m really proud of what we do!”
Beachem’s brewing was sparked by an interest in chemistry, building flavor profiles and culinary recipes. While in college, he studied abroad for a semester in London. This fueled his love for craft beer. He has been a professional brewer for twelve years now. When asked if he has ever added anything uncanny to a beer, he told me, “The craziest adjunct I have ever seen used in a beer is lobster. It was a beer I had from Oxbow in Maine, and it was absolutely fantastic! Such a crazy ingredient, but I really love how the flavor and acidity played so well together… I would like to brew a beer with real bacon. It would be a challenge, but we make some killer in-house bacon here!”
Taproot has released their Wicked Squashed Pumpkin Ale for the season. Beachem described this as not a typical pumpkin ale. He explained that, “It uses local roasted sugar pumpkins with a special spice blend of brown sugar and garam masala. To that, we add a layering of biscuit malts and caramel malts, a special spice blend, blackstrap molasses, lactose, and a Belgian yeast that provides the phenolic notes and the spice flavor. We also have a ginger snap ale coming out this week, which is a riff on the famous cookies… and reminds us of fall!” They both sound spooktacular!
There seems to be mayhem and magic involved in brewing. I hope you are able to drink a pint of a delicious potion. Trick or treat yourself to some local craft beer!