Perfume, Beets, and Pan

I am currently reading jitterbug perfume by tom robbins, and it is inspiring two big thoughts in my head.

the first, is that i want to brew a beer made with beets. I saw wilco this past summer and magic hat had a beet beer that was real tasty. Plus i have been dying to brew my first red.

on that note, any recipe/ thoughts on brewing with beets?

the second inspiring aspect of the book, is that since its all about perfume and smells, and since i happen to have a very sensitive nose (old ladies at the book store with their old lady perfume gives me a migraine), i want to start getting more into aromas of my beers.

where pan comes into play, is in my never ending attempts at using my brewing hobby to pick up girls at school. The other night i was at a party and got the "hey, arnt you the guy who brews his own beer?". sadly, i did not get her number, too distracted by another girl dressed as a picasso painting. next time i will know the right path to take, but these are the mistakes of youth that i enjoy.

right, pan. in the book, pan has total game, and uses aroma to assist it. I'm thinking, can i brew a delicious beet beer, with an aroma so wonderful, girls will smell/drink it, and then hand me their numbers?

Um,...maybe?!?!

#1 - unlikely

#2 - while your dreaming, why dont you just make a beer that makes girls drop to their knees??

Hmmm ... uhhh ... hmmm.

It can be done!!

I remember reading in herbal brews/sacred beers (or something like that) there are certain plants that have an aphrodesiac quality to them that can be extracted during the brewing process. I'm not sure how it will taste though

Jitterbug perfume is one of my favorite books! Coincidentally, I'm reading "Another Roadside Attraction" by Tom Robbins right now.

I, too, was obsessed with beets after reading it. You might want to scan, or type up the opening page on beets for HBT, so they can understand the passion.

Shortly after starting that book, I went to the grocery store and bought a couple pounds of beets to boil and eat just by themselves. heavenly.

No idea how to add beets to a beer.....subscribed.

avibayer said:

…too distracted by another girl dressed as a picasso painting. next time i will know the right path to take, but these are the mistakes of youth that i enjoy.

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Is that kind of like the "Monet" Girl - looks hot from far away, but up close is a mess?

Just kidding, great book by one of my favorite authors. I want to read the kid's book he wrote about beer. Sounds cool. Beet beer - sounds gross.

That book rocked. Read it in Highschool on my own at the suggestion of my lang arts teach.

For your recipie, I prob would go with a pumpkin or sweet potato recipie and swap out the pumpkin with beets. Ofcourse you may need to do a large batch of base and then divide it into various test batches to get what you are looking for. Ofcourse I am a mead maker. I have heard some meads described as liquid panty dropper. A misnomer I am sure. But I have been thinking on a sweet chocolate mead. I have seen that flavor of mead been coveted by many women. I recomend brewing mead, it is easier and less stepps but you do have to wait 6 to 12 months after bottling for aging before it gets really good.

Ofcourse tweeking and tweening any recipie is in order.

I am not sure of the actual aroma and flavor of beets or fermented beats.

In college huh? Well, sounds like you got a science experiment on your hands. Make a bunch of test brews. See which way is best and then improve upon it in a big batch.

Best of luck.

The whole beer to get girls thing was mainly for levity, though there was a girl at the party, impressed that i brew, who seemed interested. but that is besides the point.

beet beer! thats the point. Magic hat had a summer ale this past summer called wacko, which used beet juice in it. I want to know if anyone has brewed with beet sugar, beet juice?

ive never brewed with anything but grain and hops, and dont know the first thing about adding fruits and vegetables. guess theres only one way to find out. but i was hoping for feedback.

and to all who havn't, you should read jitterbug perfume.

"An old Ukranian proverb warns, 'A tale that begins with a beet will end with the devil.' That is a risk we have to take."

johntangus said:

Is that kind of like the "Monet" Girl - looks hot from far away, but up close is a mess?.

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nope. she was dope. even up close.

IIRC, beets have a lot of sugar. I'd be worried about it drying out too much and being high ABV.
Of course, that may work to your advantage.

Beet sugar? Sure, probably almost every Belgian beer is brewed with beet sugar. They use that way more than cane sugar over there.

Working on a recipe myself for this one. and I thought I was so smart.

I've been wanting to do this too. The color would be amazing. I think if you juiced a few beets and added the juice, it would work.

One of my favorite books. I've prolly read it a dozen times. You just made my day!

A little searching would have netted you these threads-

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/anyone-used-beets-sugars-colors-235539/?highlight=beets

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f85/beets-not-powerful-colorant-i-thought-185580/?highlight=beets

As for smells- this basic brewing podcast should interest you.

January 25, 2007 - How to Smell Better
Researcher Dr. Jay Gottfried explains how the sense of smell works and how a study he's conducting may help us to improve our brews by being able to smell more accurately.

Click to listen- MP3

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I won't comment on the picking up chicks thing....I used to go to bookstores on Superbowl SUnday when I was in my 20's to pick up chicks- usually cougar types who were football "widows" and travelling in hot little milfy packs. Since all the other guys were gone, and I figured the odds were better, and women would think me hot and smart, since I didn't care about football. I won't tell you if it ever worked or not.

Have fun

One of the best books ever!!

The bartender at my local pub recently told me that beet is a "secret" ingredient in Two Rivers pomegranate cider. They use it for color.

Ha! I'm reading that right now too. It's a good book. The beets will give a lot of color, keep that in mind.

I am thinking double dose of beets. Some in the mash as you would with pumpkin and then juiced like dry hopping for more beet flavor. Definitely going belgium high alcohol with this one.

I just came across this thread, while doing research for my own Jitterbug Perfume inspired beer. I love that book.

Per the book's perfume recipe, I'm looking to mix beet and Jasmine. I'd rather the beets were a background flavor, though, so I tried to dial them back a bit.

I'm not sure beet and jasmine taste good together, but I'm pretty set on these ingredients, so...you know...

Let me know what you think:
___________________________________________
Predicted OG: 1.067
Predicted FG: 1.017
Predicted Abv: 6.52
Predicted color:....reddish pink?

MALTS ETC
8.25 lbs Briess Wheat LME
1 lb Candi Sugar (made from sugar beets!)
8 oz Caramunich

HOPS
2 oz Hallertau - 60 mins
1 oz Hallertau - 5 mins

YEAST
Wyeast 1214 Belgian Ale - 1 pack

ADDITIONS:
0.5 lbs roasted red beets - Boil 60 mins
3 oz dried jasmine - boil 2 mins
5 oz jasmine - added to secondary

Saw this thread and initially thought it was referring to Patrick Suskind's Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. Fantastic book if you haven't read it.

i recall Pan had a very wild and animal like beer - probably akin to something you could mimic with some long aging with brett

you're completely on your own if you try to brew something inspired by Skinny Legs and all

didn't realize this had been necro'd