Hobbit Brew?

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Hey all-I know its been nigh on two months since I first posted about Hobbit brew, but mine is finally ready. My recipe is on here, but if people would like me to repost and save them the trouble of digging for it, I would be more than happy to. I modeled it after a southern English brown ale, and I think it's pretty on the mark. It has a nice maltiness to it, some hop bitterness but very little to no hop aroma, and the ginger I used gave it a nice pastoral touch, just right for a hobbit. I've been keeping them in my pantry (about 65*), and I actually think they taste better at that temp than they do refrigerated-its much softer, and you can pick up all the little subtleties of the beer. All in all, I'm really happy with it, so thank you to everyone who helped and gave input leading up to brewing day!
 
I have a crazy idea for Ent-wash. Would it be possible to use maple sap for a "wort"? My grandfather has property with plenty of sugar and red maples and he has made syrup before.
It might be more of a maple cider or wine, Im not sure, but I have a couple weeks for research before the sap starts flowing if its possible.

Have I lost my mind?
 
I don't know that maple sap will do much for you. It's fairly bland, on its own. However, maple syrup can work well in a beer.

I've always thought Old Foghorn has a bit of maple syrup in there, but don't tell anyone you heard that from me. :)


TL
 
this thread inspired me to try and make a few LotR beers.

here is one i have in the secondary right now which i tried to make seem elven:

batch size: 1.5 gal

1/3 lb crushed oats steeped for 20 min at 150 F
1/4 lb orange blossom honey
1 1/2 lb light LME
1/5 oz Pride of Ringwood 45 min
1/8 oz Pride of Ringwood 5 min
1/8 oz Pride of Ringwood 1 min
8 tbsp lactose
Wyeast Whitbread 1099
Irish Moss

OG 1.061
FG 1.024
 
cheezydemon said:
Someone that doesn't have a "hottie" at home, didn't go to college...
Click to expand...

Or they just went to an engineering school :(

j/k... I'm *trying* to convince this hot chick to date me ;)


---

I propose that the hobbits drink "Hobgoblin"

Clearly the name was coined in a world where goblin's exist :p
 
Time to bring this one back out...

After brewing all sorts of other things the past couple of months, I finally decided it was time to brew my take on a hobbit beer, a Ginger Oak Oatmeal Porter, and ordered the extras I need to make it.

However, it just occurred to me that for them to toast the malt, wood had to have been used as a heat source. Which should leave a smokiness to the beer.

So now, my recipe is going to change a bit, yet again, to include a bit of home-smoked malt.

"Smoked Ginger Oak Oatmeal Porter"--how many BJCP categories might that partially fit into? *groans*

Anyway, I look to brew this one in the next couple of weeks, and am curious to know how any of the rest of you have come along.
 
Ok, time to put my two-cents in on this. First off this is the first time I've seen this tread and I have to say, my hats off to you folks. You've done some serious research here, but...

Some one beat you to this along time ago. I live in Kalamazoo, Michigan and there is a particular brew pub here. Can you guess the name? It happens to be "Bilbo's" and yes it is based on the Tolken books. Check them out at www.bilbospizza.com
 
Having recently read both The Hobbit and LotR, my impression of their ale is that they wouldn't have used smoked malt, ginger or oats. (Porter is actually mentioned, as distinct from ale, in The Hobbit.) It would be a fairly basic malt-oriented ale, most likely a dark mild: they sing a song in praise of a very very brown ale, and the quality of barley was extremely important, with the year after the war being an exceptional vintage. So it couldn't be smoked, spicy or strongly hopped, as that would mask much of the barley malt flavour.

You could, of course, say that they would use wood to kiln the malt, necessarily leaving a smoked flavour, but these are fantasy books. Things exist for their effects on the imagination, not for how they would be produced in the imaginary world -- that's the domain of utopian science fiction. Porter, for instance, is a product of the industrial revolution, so they couldn't possibly have it. Yet they did. In a consistent Middle Earth, porter would be the drink of the orcs of Saruman, representing industrialisation, but then porter is good and orcs are evil, so that would leave a different inconsistency, and one more important to the genre.

The elves didn't have beer at all, IIRC.
 
Ølbart said:
You could, of course, say that they would use wood to kiln the malt, necessarily leaving a smoked flavour...
Click to expand...
Given the Hobbits' professed love for good food and drink I'm sure they would have discovered ways to produce the most desirable flavors in all their cooking and brewing. Perhaps they too would have found malting techniques similar to the early English: The History of England, 1577: "In some places it [malt] is dried at leisure with wood alone, or straw alone, in other with wood and straw together, but, of all, the straw-dried is the most excellent. For the wood-dried malt, when it is brewed, beside that the drink is higher of color, it doth hurt and annoy the head of him that is not used thereto, because of the smoke."
 
I just found this thread. I've always wanted to try brewing with Yarrow, ever since I heard Papazian mention it. I think I'll start formulation a Hobbit Ale and use my Yarrow once it gets going this summer. It grows weedy in many parts of North America, but it is a native plant. There is an Alpine Yarrow that grows in the highlands. I'll have to gather some of that.

Also, I tend to gather a lot of Valerian root as well. It is a strong sedative. I brew tea with it, but mainly just chew on it when im in the woods. I wonder how this would act in a beer? It would be twice as relaxing.

I've always wanted to polish my herbalist skills, this would give me a good reason to stock up the apothecary with wildcrafted herbs. Imagine making an herbal infusion or tincture and add it straight to the brew. You could even make a mind stimulating Ginkgo Monk Ale. I need to get a hold of that Sacred Healing Ales book. This could be exciting and bridge the gap between hobbies.
 
Hmmm, I never thought much about the shire brew, but I remember the ents gave merry and pippin some draught that kinda "cures what ails them" which I imagined as being a sweet mead. I like what cheezy said about herbs in the beer. A nice combination of rosemary and sage perhaps? As for the difference between hobbit-brew and man-brew, well I suppose men will drink just about anything where as hobbits seem to have a more refined taste.

Well, I would love to keep pondering the varieties of beer found in middle earth, but I need to get my mom to bring a pitcher of Tang down to the basement. My WOW guild is raiding tonight and I need to stay well hydrated.



That last part was a joke.
 
Talk about resurrecting an old thread! necro-posting anyone?

I've been working on re-creating a 1890's brown porter that is referenced in the Sherlock Holmes novels (Baker Street Brown) And really, the recipe would be quite similar, due to the time period, the difference would be in a city beer vs a country beer, with the country one probably containing other spices (ginger perhaps is a good call). Perhaps something like this?

9# Marris Otter
1.5# Toasted Marris Otter (10mins@350)
1# Brown Malt (home-made from Marris Otter, using whatever method you choose)
1# Flaked Wheat
.25# Black Patton (you could home-make it, but it'd be smoky and stink up your kitchen)

2oz Brambling Cross @60
1oz Brambling Cross @30
1oz Ginger Root@5

Fermented with WLP005, oak chips in secondary to approximate cask aging.

Take the first gallon of runnings and boil it down to a pint (kettle carmelization) in order to simulate the carmelization that takes place in long (2-3 hour) boils that were common at the time, add back to main boil. From what I understand, this long boil was used to give residual sweetness before carmel malts were invented.

I just might have to brew this for my "beer from novels" series.
 
I haven't read through the thread in its entirety recently, so forgive me if this information has already been uncovered. I talked with my father today who is in the UK and had just been to the Eagle and Child (a pub, locally called the bird and baby I understand) where Tolkien and C.S. Lewis participated in a group called the Inklings where they'd meet regularly to drink beer and discuss literature. He was taking part in some C.S. Lewis tour and the gentleman giving the tour used to fetch beer for Jack and Warnie (Lewis and his older brother.) From him my non-brewer father was able to gather the following about the beer that the group generally drank:

1.) It was a "mild."
2.) It was a cask ale.
3.) It is no longer produced.

I will try and get the contact information so I can find out more about the name of the beer and perhaps track down someone who might have had a hand in its production. I hope this can add some value to the cause!

:mug:
 
I can't belive I haven't contributed to this yet... and where is Thorongil?

Anyway, in the Hobbit, the Dwarves are served, coffee, tea, mead, porter, ale, and wine (according to memory) at the Unexpected Party.

The Green Elves of Mirkwood are very fond of a strong wine brewed in the south.

Elrond the Half-Elven has a bunch of drinks available but I can't remember exactly what of hand.

Beorn is a great brewer of mead.

In Lord of the Rings, Elrond gives Gandalf a bottle of Miruvoore a spirit brewed in the Undying Lands and brought over the sea to Middle Earth.

The Ents brew the Ent Draught which is a clear liquid that relaxes the drinker and causes them to grow.

That's all I can remember off the top of my head...
 
Pabst Blue Robot said:
I talked with my father today who is in the UK and had just been to the Eagle and Child (a pub, locally called the bird and baby I understand) where Tolkien and C.S. Lewis participated in a group called the Inklings where they'd meet regularly to drink beer and discuss literature.
Click to expand...

Dude! I've totally been to that pub! When I was "studying abroad" in London for a semester my brother came up for a week and we made a pilgrimage to Oxford to visit all the Tolkien sites. We went up to his grave to pay our respects, sat under the very same tree that inspired him to create Ents, and had a nice lunch and quite a few pints at the Eagle and Child. I even lifted a menu from the pub as a souvenir. It was one hell of a day.

I can't believe I've never seen this thread either! I totally want to make a Middle Earth inspired beer now.
 
First thing I thought on seeing this thread was that one movie line: "It comes in PINTS?"

Though that said, chiming in late here I'd say that a hobbit type beer would absolutely have hops and be of a recognizable British style. Yes, Tolkien started with making a mythology for ancient England and it was supposed to be stories of times before normal history. But the Shire in particular was a place that was very much an idealized and familiar rural England of the not too distant past, even when it had anachronisms like potatoes or pipeweed(which might not have been tobacco exactly but which Tolkien specified as a close relative.) Now if you take the Lake-Men or the Rohirrim who are much more medieval styled Anglo-Saxon types you might have recipes made with gruit. Even as close as Bree where you had a different culture of Hobbits, I could see going for the really ancient techniques. But in the Shire you're going to see good old English ales in nostalgic but recognizable style.
 
I can't believe I just found this thread. I also can't believe that no one has suggested that hobbits would find a way to make a mushroom beer. ;)

I must say, though... I'm more interested in what Dwarves drink. :mug:
 
My recollection is that Tolkien differentiated between ales and porters......

"some called for ale, and some for porter"

, my understanding being that a porter is an ale.
 
Found an interesting quote. I do know that my next Mild will be named something with 1420...

When the Hobbits return they set about returning the Shire to its former state. The Shire is eventually restored when a gardener, sows magic seeds from the Elf Kingdom Lothlorien. Throughout the Shire bushes, vines and berries flourish. The Shire year 1420 was considered to be the most productive and prosperous year in their history. It was noted for many things, first among them being blond children and the excellent beer.
"Northfarthing barley was so fine that the beer of 1420 malt was long remembered" (The Return of the King)
Click to expand...

Middle Earth Beer Festival
 
cheezydemon3 said:
My recollection is that Tolkien differentiated between ales and porters......

"some called for ale, and some for porter"

, my understanding being that a porter is an ale.
Click to expand...

Porter is an ale, yes. But not all ales are Porters! :)

Historical reference: When the good Prof. was working on The Hobbit, "ale" was the general offering from breweries, and porter had not yet died in Britain. "Bitter" as a style name didn't come into wide use until the end of the interbellum period. At that time, breweries often still listed young beers as "mild" - not at all like the modern style.

The history of styles is as important as understanding the modern style definition.

Tenna' ento lye omenta,

Bob
 
so was there success with these brews that were talked about toward the begining? this does seem like a fun idea
 
I love how this thread keeps resurfacing. I need to sit down one day and come up with a truly inspired Middle Earth brew.
cheezydemon3 said:
My recollection is that Tolkien differentiated between ales and porters......

"some called for ale, and some for porter"

, my understanding being that a porter is an ale.
Click to expand...

When Tolkien was writing these books, Porter would have been generally what we consider porter. Probably more toward the Brown Porter side. Ale IS a generic term for top fermented beers now. Back then, it referred to Bitter, or sometimes pale ale.

If you want to be accurate, I'm sure the Hobbits drank Mild or even Bitter. Although Porter was around when Tolkien was writing these books, its not a very Hobbit-esque brew. I say that because Porter was the first truly mass produced beer. It was a product of the Industrial Revolution. While the bitter beer of Burton-on-Trent was immensely popular, it was not produced in the massive quantities that Porter was made in. Therefore, I deem Porter a very un Hobbit like beer. IMO, it rather fits the Dwarves.
 
hoffmeister said:
Okay, so I'm going to expose my dorkiness to all of you, but I think you might be able to help me. This was partially encouraged by a posting a saw for Butterbeer, from the Harry Potter books. I'm a huge J.R.R. Tolkien fan, and when I was recently watching Fellowship two scenes got me thinking. In one, during Bilbo's birthday party, Frodo accuses him of drinking too much of the Gaffer's ale, to which Bilbo admits that he has. Later, at the Prancing Pony, the hobbits are delighted when they find they can get beer in pints.

Now my question is, what type of beer would hobbits drink? Would the beer they brew in Hobbiton be different from the beer brewed in Bree, since they are for different clientele, or would they be similar? I know there's not any sort of indication of what their preference in beer might be, but I thought it might be fun to come up with a recipe for either the Gaffer's ale or Bree ale, or both. I'm thinking something like a mild brown ale or bitter for the Gaffer's, and maybe a hearty brown ale or even a porter for Bree, since there are men there and its a bit rougher of an area. Any thoughts/suggestions would be welcome, but please keep comments about my nerdiness to yourselves :)
Click to expand...

In The Hobbit, the dwarves call for beer, ale, porter & red wine among other things; and Bilbo went to the cellar to fill a pint beer mug. That whole "It comes in pints?!?" this was a nice touch of creative license on Jackson's part. After the incident with the trolls, they got a full barrel of ale from the trolls' cave.

The elves of Mirkwood enjoyed winedescribed as potent enough to make a wood elf drowsy & as being from the great gardens of Dorwinion, which came to them via the men of Lake Town.

In LOTR, there is mention of a farming area known as the Marish Down, or simply "The Marish." With a wee bit of linguistic creative license, one might imagine this place name being altered over the years to "Maris." There's also a place called "Ossir" that might have later been altered to "otter," though I admit it's a bit of a stretch. The hobbits DID grow barley though & much of the story DID use English traditions.

In Tom Bombadil's house the hobbits are served a drink "That seemed to be clear cold water, yet it went to their hearts like wine and set free their voices."

While prisoners of the Uruk Hai, Merry & Pippin are forced to drink "some burning liquid" that caused then to feel "a hot, fierce glow." Treebeard served Merry & Pippin from tall stone jars a drink like water, yet with some scent or savour they could not describe, but reminded them of "The smell of a distant wood, bourne from afar by a cool breeze at night." The effects started inthe toes "and rose steadily through every limb, bringing refreshment & vigour as it coursed upwards, right to the tips of the hair."

Merry & Pippin drank wine after the battle of Isengard, and offered Gimli a choice of wine or beer to drink & salt pork or bacon to eat. I'm almost positive that metheglin is mentioned, but I can't find it at the moment.

It seems that there was a significant enough difference between ale & beer to give them different names, the link posted above would seem to support this. I would think that hobbits would have made & consumed mild ale, brown ale, and maybe barleywine. Porter is mentioned, but it's not clear that it was ever served & the dwarves were the only ones to call for it. I think stouts & Scotch ales would've been more dwarf fare than hobbit. Tolkien is likely to have enjoyed many a pint of bitter whilst writing the story, and may have placed it in middle earth as well. There's certainly no reason the hobbits couldn't have had pale ale or a gruit.

They had orchards as well as vinyards, so it's entirely possible they could've had cider, though it's not mentioned. Cider & perry were made in the real world 800 (or more) years ago, so why not in middle earth too? Then there's the mention of the quality of the 1420 barley & the beer made with it.

I think whatever they made/drank would be cask conditioned. They certainly had bottles, but whether they had the technology to bottle condition a beer is not even alluded to, while pouring a pint, and barrels of ale are clearly stated. Hops are not mentioned, but coffee is & so are pencils, so I suppose we have to take some things on faith, or with a grain of salt; it IS a work of fiction afterall. I suppose one could brew up a IIPA & call it "Hoppit Ale." Maybe not quite a "proper 1420," but a play on words that allows for a IIPA.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents worth on a cool, but old thread. Regards, GF.
 
Nice job reminding us for the 1420 reverence, Bob! I'm going to bring that into my every day beer comments.
 
This thread cracks me up! I just brewed my first IPA and have been talking to my wife about naming it once I refine my recipe. I swear I'd been talkin' Tolkein! (Cave Troll IPA?) Hadn't seen this thread until tonight.
 
gratus fermentatio said:
In The Hobbit, the dwarves call for beer, ale, porter & red wine among other things; and Bilbo went to the cellar to fill a pint beer mug. That whole "It comes in pints?!?" this was a nice touch of creative license on Jackson's part. After the incident with the trolls, they got a full barrel of ale from the trolls' cave.

The elves of Mirkwood enjoyed winedescribed as potent enough to make a wood elf drowsy & as being from the great gardens of Dorwinion, which came to them via the men of Lake Town.

In LOTR, there is mention of a farming area known as the Marish Down, or simply "The Marish." With a wee bit of linguistic creative license, one might imagine this place name being altered over the years to "Maris." There's also a place called "Ossir" that might have later been altered to "otter," though I admit it's a bit of a stretch. The hobbits DID grow barley though & much of the story DID use English traditions.

In Tom Bombadil's house the hobbits are served a drink "That seemed to be clear cold water, yet it went to their hearts like wine and set free their voices."

While prisoners of the Uruk Hai, Merry & Pippin are forced to drink "some burning liquid" that caused then to feel "a hot, fierce glow." Treebeard served Merry & Pippin from tall stone jars a drink like water, yet with some scent or savour they could not describe, but reminded them of "The smell of a distant wood, bourne from afar by a cool breeze at night." The effects started inthe toes "and rose steadily through every limb, bringing refreshment & vigour as it coursed upwards, right to the tips of the hair."

Merry & Pippin drank wine after the battle of Isengard, and offered Gimli a choice of wine or beer to drink & salt pork or bacon to eat. I'm almost positive that metheglin is mentioned, but I can't find it at the moment.

It seems that there was a significant enough difference between ale & beer to give them different names, the link posted above would seem to support this. I would think that hobbits would have made & consumed mild ale, brown ale, and maybe barleywine. Porter is mentioned, but it's not clear that it was ever served & the dwarves were the only ones to call for it. I think stouts & Scotch ales would've been more dwarf fare than hobbit. Tolkien is likely to have enjoyed many a pint of bitter whilst writing the story, and may have placed it in middle earth as well. There's certainly no reason the hobbits couldn't have had pale ale or a gruit.

They had orchards as well as vinyards, so it's entirely possible they could've had cider, though it's not mentioned. Cider & perry were made in the real world 800 (or more) years ago, so why not in middle earth too? Then there's the mention of the quality of the 1420 barley & the beer made with it.

I think whatever they made/drank would be cask conditioned. They certainly had bottles, but whether they had the technology to bottle condition a beer is not even alluded to, while pouring a pint, and barrels of ale are clearly stated. Hops are not mentioned, but coffee is & so are pencils, so I suppose we have to take some things on faith, or with a grain of salt; it IS a work of fiction afterall. I suppose one could brew up a IIPA & call it "Hoppit Ale." Maybe not quite a "proper 1420," but a play on words that allows for a IIPA.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents worth on a cool, but old thread. Regards, GF.
Click to expand...

This is the single greatest post I've seen on this board. And no, I'm not being sarcastic.

Awesome.
 

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