Egyptian spice or ingredient?

I've got a desire to brew an IPA, but for some reason I am thinking I'd like to do it with an Egyptian theme, and a likewise unique ingredient or grain.

I've got an oz of Columbus(12.2%), and 2 oz of Cascades(6.3%), both pellet. I've got 50lbs of 2-row.

Other stuff:
1lb flaked soft red wheat
1lb Victory
8oz Caramunich II
8oz UK Chocolate, 350l
1lb Belgian aromatic

Other hops, all pellet, include:
2oz US Perle, 7.9%
2oz German Tett, 4.5%
3oz Slovenian Styrian Golding, 4.5%
2oz UK Challenger, 6.3%
2oz Amarillo, 8%
2oz. Mt. Hood, 5.2%
2oz Willamette, 4.6%

Plan on using Safale US-05.

Plan on calling it "Night Boat to Cairo" after the Madness tune. Would like to hit 6% or higher ABV.

Suggestions please?

Check out http://www.wohlmut.com/beer/morebeer.html . About halfway down there's a section beginning:

"LONDON (Reuters) - An Egyptologist, two scientists and Britain's largest brewer plan to brew an ale from a recipe dating back 3,500 years to the time of Tutankhamun..."

"...further analysis of sediment, which had leaked from jars into the sand, showed other ingredients like coriander and Naback fruit -- an Egyptian berry -- may have been used to flavor the beer."

Were Grains of paradise used by Egyptians?

Dr Vorlauf said:

Were Grains of paradise used by Egyptians?

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I don't know. It's obvious I'm going to have to do some research. I do have whole Cardamom and Coriander in the pantry, but I figured that'd be more Indian than Egyptian. I rarely get the time free to make beer right now, and we were supposed to be getting rain today, so I was bummed when I went to bed last night. The storm hit around 3 or 4 this morning, and I had great weather by 11 AM. I just figured I'd be better off doing a good basic IPA first, then screw with the recipe later.

I hit my numbers, and that capped off a great brew day. Now the wife wants to go out to dinner, so it looks like I'm done cooking for the day.

I'm going to do some more research on traditional Egyptian cooking, as well as their beer.

I don´t know if it´s commonly used in brews but they drink a lot of Rooibos in egypt.

Its often used to make herbal tea. Check it out and see if it sounds interesting.

Date or palm sugar?

brewt00l said:

Date or palm sugar?

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Ooh, now you're talkin'. I love dates.

I was beginning to think I might just throw a handful of sand in the primary:cross: .

Dates (Arabic: تمر Tamr) have been a staple food of the Middle East for thousands of years. They are believed to have originated around the Persian Gulf, and have been cultivated since ancient times from Mesopotamia to prehistoric Egypt, possibly as early as 4000 BC. There is archaeological evidence of date cultivation in eastern Arabia in 6000 BC (Alvarez-Mon 2006).

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I always think of anise when I'm thinking Egyptian spicing...I don't know if that's accurate or not, but it's an impression in my head.

Silviakitty said:

I always think of anise when I'm thinking Egyptian spicing...I don't know if that's accurate or not, but it's an impression in my head.

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Funny, Silvia, I somehow think of cinnamon and clove, but that may just be my imagination throwing in some of the things I've imagined "Spice" from Dune would be like, and I'm equating Egypt with sand and giant worms.

Cop Shoot Cop said:

I don´t know if it´s commonly used in brews but they drink a lot of Rooibos in egypt.

Its often used to make herbal tea. Check it out and see if it sounds interesting.

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While I know it's not the definitive reference, the Wikipedia page doesn't say anything about Egypt for Rooibos. I have had the tea before, and I think I enjoyed it, but it's been a long time. I pretty much stick to Russian black, English or Irish Breakfast, or Typhoo tea when I can get it here in my small corner of the world, NC.