Your wildest brewing additions?

I was having a discussion last night over a few ales about shaman's. It got me to thinking.... Has anyone ever used something like blue lotus, kava kava, passion flower, Alpine Tumeric, chicory, or anything else in a brew.

I just borrowed the Sacred Herbs book(which i hear is kinda silly) and haven't begun reading.

What did you use? Did it taste good? How much did you use? when did you use it? Would you suggest trying it?

Thanks

This could be an interesting thread. I myself have only used pumpkin as a weird ingredient, or weirdest I have used. I always see the brewers garden stuff at the brew store, dired elderberries/elderflowers, licorice root, sweet gale, and various other dried herbs and roots. I too am interested in what these impart to the beer and what styles are best suited to use them. Please, someone with experience in using these ingredients speak up and let us know about your brews, good or bad.

I guess peanut butter is my weirdest, though that is fairly common around this forum.

I tried tea roses in one batch of wit where I was looking for alternatives to the typical coriander/orange peel thing. Didn't turn out very well...the roses left a sort of aftertaste that wasn't appealing.

I added wintergreen and sarsaparilla to a stout once, I wasnt too happy with the results.
I've made a few spiced meads that turned out very nice, my experience is that spices and fruit work best in a dry drink. Most beers have too much body to let the spices or fruit work, the sourness of fruit and the sharpness of spices gets lost. Some lighter beers like a belgian wit seem to work but I dont think I will try spicing/fruiting a stout or porter again.
I also just started a rose petal mead that smells great but I'll see how the hydro sample tastes in a few weeks.

My Scarboro Faire ale was weird but smelled wonderful:
Sage
Parsely
Thyme
Rosemary

No hops

Chicory Stout



Availability: Seasonal






A dark beer made with a touch of roasted chicory, organic Mexican coffee, St. John's Wort, and licorice root. Brewed with whole-leaf Cascade and Fuggles hops, the grains include pale, roasted & oatmeal.


Love the stuff.

I've used all manner of weird spices in Belgian ales, including rosemary. In fact, I've a bottle of rosemary mead in my stash I'm afraid to open; when young, it was perfectly foul, and I don't know if the intervening years have been kind to it.

Bob

I guess the weirdest would be the mulling spice for my Holiday ale and Blue Agave Nectar for my el Hefe weizen. Also contemplating doing an ale with blue agave nectar and chili peppers calling it a prarie fire.

I put grits in my True Grit Ale. A cream ale. Still in secondary, but will let you know.

Ginger and chai tea type spices is as far as I have gone...

I have used kava kava and passion flower extracts in tea. Weird taste. Could have been the strength. Great to help relaxation though!

I made a brown ale one year for Halloween that had candy corn and Count Chocula in it, I think mostly all fermented out, so the flavors didn't really stay, although the dye from the candy corn gave a slight orange hue to the head.

Ok Thread necropoly...

Banana and Banana peel. Amber Ales
Radishes in an IPA

Been recently thinking toasted almonds dusted in coco powder for Common pale or amber ale.

Toasted coconuts...

... food for thought. Beer is food!

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I did a witbier with cumin and dried orange peel instead of coriander. It turned out awesome.