Strange New Mexican Woods

[Hobanon]

So I was stocking up on the cheap Mexican spices in the international aisle, picking up the usual oregano, cumin, etc and some hibiscus and rose petals for a "floral" IPA I'm planning - and I found myself grabbing a bunch of bags of different barks, thinking, "Hey, I'll bet I could age a stout/porter/etc on some of this." I got them home and did some Googling, and it looks like I picked up a bunch of medicinal woods. Apparently, I can now treat a few types of ulcers, UTIs, and pass a drug test. I've got:

Una de Gato (Cat's Paw/Claw)
Palo Azul Entero (the "cleanser")
Cinchona Bark
Cuachalalate

I found that some guys at Trinity brewing are playing with Cuachalalate in a raisin-y porter, and I'll probably drop them a line to see how it turned out (article below).

http://sbnonline.brewingnews.com/publication/index.php?p=18&i=28757&ver=swf&pp=1&zoom=0


So...does anyone have any ideas or experience with these woods/barks - not even in a brewing context? I'm just trying to see which ones might actually be useable. Ultimately, they were only a few dollars total so it's not a big loss to trash it.

 

[sptaylor70]

You could try them in a soda, like a root beer or birch beer.

 

[IPA-Hole]

So did you ever try any of that stuff out? We want to know!

 

[Hobanon]

My bad, guys. I still haven't tried anything just yet - I've been caught between work and keeping the pipeline full of non-experimental beers. I was able to get in touch with one of the guys from Trinity who said the Cuachalate wood will impart very dark, chocolatey flavors which automatically makes me think porter/stout. No idea as to how much to use in a 5 gal batch though - I'll probably make up some teas from the other woods in a few days to see what kind of flavors there are.