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I started brewing Yarrow beer because one of my clients (I am a qualified therapist) had Candida, but did not want to stop drinking. All of the diets for Candida said as a matter of course ‘no alcohol’, or strictly spirits only, with no mixers. As she prefers ciders and coolers this was not really an option for her.
Lo & behold – when I finished maturing the first batch she was in Cape Town for two weeks, & before she got back the beer had mysteriously ‘evaporated’ and I had to start on the second 40 litre batch.
One of my very introvert friends regarded them as 'truth serums', because in spite of the fact that he hardly ever talks in company, after a couple of glasses he was regaling me and one of my lady friends with all the details of his life.
Gruit beers have a very different effect to normal hops based beers - in my experience hops is a good additive in small doses because of the antiseptic and bittering effect, but too much hops makes one more drowsy than a hop-free beer. Rosemary is a stimulant, Yarrow is just amazing in that it works as an anti-depressant and additives like Borage or Angelica are tonic and cleansing. The ladies love minimum hops beer because it is more like their 'coolers' than the traditional bitterness of beers. Adding Sage to a brew has a tendency to make people start discussing the meaning of life after their second glass.
Yarrow also works as a stimulant (instead of a depressant, (like hops)) of the central nervous system, so it makes one feel more lucid and clear per beer than otherwise. In fact, the traditional brewers in Europe regarded the 'Reinheitsgebot' as nothing more than a decision by the government to stop them from brewing real beer. According to more ancient literature the law was passed to get people to work on time as parties lasting for a week were fairly common when a good Gruit was brewed.
So I tried some alternatives for hops and it was good. I am not even going to mention the effect of Wormwood as a Hops substitute (Absinthe comes to mind?). - Yarrow has also been known as a psychoactive compound which increases the activity of the brain.
Lo & behold – when I finished maturing the first batch she was in Cape Town for two weeks, & before she got back the beer had mysteriously ‘evaporated’ and I had to start on the second 40 litre batch.
One of my very introvert friends regarded them as 'truth serums', because in spite of the fact that he hardly ever talks in company, after a couple of glasses he was regaling me and one of my lady friends with all the details of his life.
Gruit beers have a very different effect to normal hops based beers - in my experience hops is a good additive in small doses because of the antiseptic and bittering effect, but too much hops makes one more drowsy than a hop-free beer. Rosemary is a stimulant, Yarrow is just amazing in that it works as an anti-depressant and additives like Borage or Angelica are tonic and cleansing. The ladies love minimum hops beer because it is more like their 'coolers' than the traditional bitterness of beers. Adding Sage to a brew has a tendency to make people start discussing the meaning of life after their second glass.
Yarrow also works as a stimulant (instead of a depressant, (like hops)) of the central nervous system, so it makes one feel more lucid and clear per beer than otherwise. In fact, the traditional brewers in Europe regarded the 'Reinheitsgebot' as nothing more than a decision by the government to stop them from brewing real beer. According to more ancient literature the law was passed to get people to work on time as parties lasting for a week were fairly common when a good Gruit was brewed.
So I tried some alternatives for hops and it was good. I am not even going to mention the effect of Wormwood as a Hops substitute (Absinthe comes to mind?). - Yarrow has also been known as a psychoactive compound which increases the activity of the brain.
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