Psychotropic beers

[spike418]

Stumbled across this book the other day and in particular a chapter entitled

Psychotropic and Highly Inebriating Beers :mrgreen:

Sacred and herbal healing beers written by Stephen Harrod Buhner

Apparently

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The book does not seem to have been discussed in detail on here and I just wondered if anyone else had crossed over to the no hop method and if so were the results as devastating as expected/hoped for

Here are a few selective quotes on various brews :

Myrica has been used throughout Europe for millennia in the brewing of ale. It was one of the most common herbs, after juniper, in traditional brewing in Norway, the ale was called pars. The stories of its intoxicating properties are legendary.

"Wild Rosemary contains a volatile oil (ledum oil) that has strong inebriating effects and that in high doses produces cramps, rage, and frenzy . . . . A number of experiments with wild rosemary beer have demonstrated that the inebriating effects of alcohol are increased, and people get drunker quicker."

According to Linneaus, it was used by the people of Lima in
Dalecarnia, instead of hops, whrn they brewed for weddings, " . . . so ·
that the guests become crazy." Linneaus called the plant galentara,
"causing madness", and this plant "which the people of Lima sometimes
use in their ale stirs up the blood and makes one lose one's balance."
. . . Yarrow is in no way innocent when mixed with ale. It has
a strong odour and flavour, and well deserves the name Linnaeus gave
it, to indicate the frrezy that was said to result from it. Like Ledum
palustre, skvattram adds poisonous after-effects to the influence of
the alcohol. Thus yarrow must contain substances which increase the
effect of the alcohol, and bring about special sensations and feelings
when added to ale. According to Linnaeus, it is significant that it was
used to arrive at a state of complete and immediate intoxication

Wormwood is extremely bitter and needs to be used with a judicious hand, as Dr. Worth cautioned in 1 692. The plant hasn't changed much since then. I originally used 3/4 ounce in the following recipe and found it too bitter for my taste, though people with a tendency toward gustatory sadomasochism, tongue flagellation, or those who enjoy the taste of earwax might find it pleasant.

In low doses, beer brewed with henbane has an inebriating effect, in moderate doses, it is an aphrodisiac. (Hen bane is the only beverage
that makes you more thirsty the more you drink! This is due to the
dehydrating effects of the tropane alkaloids.) In high doses, it leads to
delirious, "demented" states, confusion, disturbances of memory, and
mad behaviors having no apparent cause.

 

[EskiBrew]

Apparently

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Regarding your wacky brews though :shock: :sick: - I think alcohol does me just fine :lol:

 

[spike418]

Apparently

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Regarding your wacky brews though :shock: :sick: - I think alcohol does me just fine :lol:

I guessed it was something like that and no offence taken. :thumb:

I am intrigued by the herbal beers mentioned and will prob give them a try at some stage (I currently have 4 BIAB's gridlocked in the garage!) I do love my hops, but the others are tempting :twisted:

 

[EskiBrew]

I had a commercial bottle from a Scottish brewery recently - can't recall which at the moment - which used heather (which might fall unto the herb category) instead of hops :?

It was worth trying but I would not want more than one bottle - probably just what you are used to I guess.

Apparently the Scotts used heather because they couldn't grow hops in any quantity and could not (or could not bring themselved to) get them from down south.

 

[dennisking]

If "strange brews" gets into the categories for next years spring thing heather ales could interest our Scottish members.

 

[bobsbeer]

Probably to get around the Hop Tax. :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

 

[abeyptfc]

I had a commercial bottle from a Scottish brewery recently - can't recall which at the moment - which used heather (which might fall unto the herb category) instead of hops :?

It was worth trying but I would not want more than one bottle - probably just what you are used to I guess.

Apparently the Scotts used heather because they couldn't grow hops in any quantity and could not (or could not bring themselved to) get them from down south.

That will probably be the Williams Bros Fraoch? I think they use hops aswell as heather and bog myrtle

 

[EskiBrew]

That will probably be the Williams Bros Fraoch? I think they use hops aswell as heather and bog myrtle

Hmmm - might have been - I really can't remember - my mother-in-law bought it for me in amongst other scottish brews :wha:

 

[Shug]

Williams bros also do a hopless beer with spruce needles instead.

 

[Buzzing]

Spike, I am also very interested in these ancient type of brews.

I recently did a Sahti with some Amanita Muscaria mushrooms,, see details here > http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=27314

If this sort of thing interests you, also check out this recipe of a Pilsenkraut brew here > http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/alcohol/alcohol_brew.shtml


Do give me a shout if you have the pdf of the book available, I'd be interested.

 

[spike418]

Spike, I am also very interested in these ancient type of brews.

I recently did a Sahti with some Amanita Muscaria mushrooms,, see details here > http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=27314

If this sort of thing interests you, also check out this recipe of a Pilsenkraut brew here > http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/alcohol/alcohol_brew.shtml


Do give me a shout if you have the pdf of the book available, I'd be interested.

Hi Buzzing,

PM sent re book

Thats a very interesting brew you made, I must admit that I thought amanita muscaria was illegal and am surprised to discover that is not the case. I may have to give that a try as I have stumbled over the shrooms several times whilst walking the Cumbrian fells.
The henbane / pilsner recipe is included in the book. I do like the look of Sahti, I didn't see it during a holiday in Scandinavia (Norway, Finland & Sweden) as I would definitely have purchased a bottle or three......

To the others that have responded.
It is my understanding that the use of hops in British beer was not widespread until the 18th Century (according to a neighbour it was the development of the canal network that changed things). Consequently the herb based recipes are more likely what our ancestors drank. I did try a heather beer in July during a holiday in the Highlands and was muchly impressed, said neighbour had also brewed it in the past after collecting heather from a local moor.

 

[oldbloke]

I heard we got hops when soldiers came back from The Hundred Years War

 

[bobsbeer]

Wikapedia:
"...The first documented instance of hop cultivation was in 736, in the Hallertau region of present-day Germany, although the first mention of the use of hops in brewing in that country was 1079.[6] Not until the 13th century in Germany did hops begin to start threatening the use of gruit for flavoring. In Britain, hopped beer was first imported from Holland around 1400, but hops were condemned in 1519 as a "wicked and pernicious weed".[7] In 1471, Norwich, England, banned use of the plant in the brewing of ale (beer was the name for fermented malt liquors bittered with hops; only in recent times are the words often used as synonyms), and not until 1524 were hops first grown in southeast England. It was another century before hop cultivation began in the present-day United States, in 1629..."

 

[jonewer]

Theres one school of thought that suggest the reinheitsgebot was actually an early form of narcotics control.....

 

[Buzzing]

Theres one school of thought that suggest the reinheitsgebot was actually an early form of narcotics control.....

Not sure if this holds water, as the periodical inclusion of the ergot fungus in brews, despite of the reinheitsgebot, is inevitable, seeing that the fungus infects barley aswell.

The fungus' main target is rye ofcourse, but millet, sorghum, wheat and sometimes oats is also infected.

The ergot fungus is parisitic in nature and infects the grain (somtimes barely noticable) and produces a sclerotium that is initially stuck to the grain, but eventually falls off and fruits. The grain would be harvested with the sclerotium attached in some cases and the LSA alkaloids present in the sclerotium would end up in the brew. LSA alkaloids are basically pre-cursurs of the synthetic LSD and would impart euphoric mind altering effects at low doses and hallucinegenic affects in higher doses.

Interestingly, a very similair ergot-like fungus infects the Heather plant aswell (under the leaves) and could be the origin of the "additional intoxicating" effects of using Heather in older/ancient brews.

Man ,Beer and Wine's history goes hand-in-hand with intoxication on levels far exceeding that of alcohol alone.

 

[lancsSteve]

The heather was legendary as it plays host to a fungus known as ergot, the precursor of LSD - probably bestowed ale with very similar side effects. Supposed to have made the picts fearsome indeed (drunk and tripping!)

This is an interesting one from dupont http://www.brasserie-dupont.com/dupont/ ... e=cervesia which uses mostly gruit herbs based on archaelogical investigations.

Radical Brewing by Randy Mosher has lots in it on herbal beers as well.

 

[Tarquinius]

Spike, I am also very interested in these ancient type of brews.

I recently did a Sahti with some Amanita Muscaria mushrooms,, see details here > http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=27314

If this sort of thing interests you, also check out this recipe of a Pilsenkraut brew here > http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/alcohol/alcohol_brew.shtml


Do give me a shout if you have the pdf of the book available, I'd be interested.

Hi Buzzing! I've always been interested in mushrooms and never heard of Amenita Muscaria (fly agaric) being used in brewing but now that I have I'm not surprised lol It's certainly something I'd give a go! I know a quite a few good spots to pick them in Autumn under birch trees!!!

 

[jonewer]

Not sure if this holds water, as the periodical inclusion of the ergot fungus in brews, despite of the reinheitsgebot, is inevitable, seeing that the fungus infects barley aswell.

Sure you cant rule out some chance ergotism, but the reinheitsgebot did eliminate the use of things like henbane and deadly nightshade, both sources of atropine and several other psychoactive alkaloids whose effects can be quite in excess of lysergic acid derivatives.