Brewing for JRR Tolkiens Bday.

[Rivenin]

So... I'm going to throw together a small shindig at my place for JRR Tolkiens Bday in january (the 3rd to be exact). Basically it will be beer, some food inspired by the hobbit (Seed cake, cheses, cold meats, lembas bread, etc) and the hobbit on my projector... should be a fun time

I have 2 taps in the house currently and this is the plan... let me know if this all makes sense!

Both of these would start getting brewed tomorrow morning.

For the first tap... i'm going to do a lighter oak aged robust porter ('bout 4.5% alc) for the hobbits in my life... as from the tale, even the hobbits had beer aging in wooden casks in their house... figure a nice light darker beer would be in there.

2nd for the Elves in my life... since they drink wine mainly and it's pretty much a bit over a month away, i will not have time to get a wine together, so what i'm going to do is a Nelson Sauvin Blonde, this way i get a slightly wine-esc taste, something colorwise that resembles a nice white wine as well... just play up the sweeter white wine in a beer somehow.

I really wanted to do an oak aged mild, but i'm pretty sure that much oak is going to kill peoples taste buds quickly.

Thats the plan so far... But i'm up for any other ideas or interpretations of the tales from the book if you have any ideas

 

[Zamial]

I have been and still am brewing up stuff fo the movie releases. Last year I brewed up "Smaug the Dragon" a smoked chocolate robust porter with debittered wormwood.

This year I have "The Company Braggot" a dark braggot aged with whiskey barrel chips. I had a son so my second beer was slightly derailed but I am planning a "Golem's Stout" a bolette mushroom, Peruvian date stout with a touch of peated malt.

Next year I will brew the last 3. To be decided.

This year we are planning drinks and a showing of the 1st movie before going to the 2nd one at the theater.

 

[edecambra]

Nerds!




Sorry I had too. Happy brewing all!

 

[geek_chaser]

I want to brew a hobbit ish one for my birthday. The movie comes the weekend of my birthday, so its going to be fun. LOTR marathon, brewing, and then the movie. I did a Doctor Who beer called Time Lords Companion for the 50th anniversary, a Wookie Stout (obvious reasons), And we did a Winterfell Stout for Game of Thrones. I plan on many more for the Star Wars franchise as well. Holla to my fellow nerds!

 

[Zamial]

If there was any 1 "Hobbit" style of beer IMHO it would be an English Summer Ale. There is no BJCP cat for it but you can find it in the BA's list of recognized styles. It is a "small" beer and tasty.

As for being a nerd ya so what? I also dress up and smack collage kids with foam weapons on the weekends. FWIW I have NEVER had as much fun with homebrews than at a medieval game feast after a day of fighting.

 

[VladOfTrub]

why not brew something as a tribute to the mans life. like how he suffered in the trenches during ww1. how he despised stalin and communism and racism. how he loved his wife and his religion. fairytale beer is nice, too.

 

[Cyclman]

Somehow I think of Hobbits drinking big / dark beers, Barleywines, RIS, Oatmeal Stouts. Also, definitely meads and braggots.

If there's a beer that shows I love my wife and my religion let me know, I'll brew up a batch. Maybe a trippel (3 crosses, very religious) or Luther's favorite Einbecker (is Einbecker truly the predecessor of Bock?).

And don't forget to enjoy a pipe, I am certain any good Hobbit would appreciate that.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

So... I'm going to throw together a small shindig at my place for JRR Tolkiens Bday in january (the 3rd to be exact). Basically it will be beer, some food inspired by the hobbit (Seed cake, cheses, cold meats, lembas bread, etc) and the hobbit on my projector... should be a fun time

I have 2 taps in the house currently and this is the plan... let me know if this all makes sense!

Both of these would start getting brewed tomorrow morning.

For the first tap... i'm going to do a lighter oak aged robust porter ('bout 4.5% alc) for the hobbits in my life... as from the tale, even the hobbits had beer aging in wooden casks in their house... figure a nice light darker beer would be in there.

2nd for the Elves in my life... since they drink wine mainly and it's pretty much a bit over a month away, i will not have time to get a wine together, so what i'm going to do is a Nelson Sauvin Blonde, this way i get a slightly wine-esc taste, something colorwise that resembles a nice white wine as well... just play up the sweeter white wine in a beer somehow.

I really wanted to do an oak aged mild, but i'm pretty sure that much oak is going to kill peoples taste buds quickly.

Thats the plan so far... But i'm up for any other ideas or interpretations of the tales from the book if you have any ideas

Reminds me of this thread from a couple years ago:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/hobbit-brew-46748/

This is what I posted in that thread:

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 wine described 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.

Regards, GF.

 

[paperairplane]

I say a nice brown ale and use the spent grain to make some nice rustic loaves of bread.

Being very in tune with nature, I feel they would certainly brew seasonally appropriate styles. Also, given their lifespans and stay at home nature, extended aging would not be an issue and living underground, lagering would be easy.

 

[Grinnan5150]

You're not going to get into the Gaffer's homebrew are you?

 

[JimRausch]

I vote for NB's 'John Palmer's Elevenes'. After all, an earlier version by JP was called 'Belladonna Took's Oaked Mild'.
Did a batch this past summer, stuck a label on it with the 'Belladonna Took' label and a picture of Gandolf on the back, and gave it to J.P.
And yes, I'm a geek, and D**n proud of it.

 

[Pugnax88]

I'm thinking I may have to snag some.of these ideas. Loved these books, I tell people all the time that I read them before they were cool haha

 

[mchrispen]

Excellent idea... going to have to think a bit about this. For some reason I would think Belgian associated with High Elves... so might go that route. Or something mild and english and a little nutty associated with Hobbits (seems a bit easy).

GF's post is a great place to start!

To be clear - brewday on Jan 3? or tap/open a beer for a pint on Jan 3?

 

[mchrispen]

Hmmm... look what I found. All references to drink in the material. http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Special:Search?search=drink&go=Go

 

[Bennywisest]

Since Hobbits have such high metabolisms I wonder if that will affect alcohol metabolism? I picture the Hobbits enjoying English Ales, something like a strong nutty brown ale or maybe an ESB brewed strong for the style. An old ale would work well too. Something earthy and strong with a firm hop presence and some roasty, nutty flavor. Probably all cask ale or barrel aged.

 

[Rivenin]

Wow, this thread got more hits than i thought!

to the brew day really fast.. everything went perfect, i was 1 point off on each batch... However, i put the wrong yeast in the carboys... not a terrible thing (i did that once and put heffe yeast into an IPA) as i put windsor in the "blonde" so now it's an english pale ale (just a titch low on the IBUs) and the S-05 in the porter, which will be fine...

Reminds me of this thread from a couple years ago:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/hobbit-brew-46748/

This is what I posted in that thread:

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 wine described 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.

Regards, GF.

this is utter and complete badassery! i wish i would have saw this weeks ago when i was planning this brewday out! Next year i'll return to this though

I say a nice brown ale and use the spent grain to make some nice rustic loaves of bread.

Being very in tune with nature, I feel they would certainly brew seasonally appropriate styles. Also, given their lifespans and stay at home nature, extended aging would not be an issue and living underground, lagering would be easy.

I was debating the aging aspect of things if it wasn't a month away, even with that being said... i'm wondering about a dark sour ale (ala oud bruin, or some sort of a wild ale) because i can picture them having some sort of a coolship for brewing... That may actually be on the docket for summer! i'll make a stout or a porter and use the second runnings into a coolship.. noted!

I vote for NB's 'John Palmer's Elevenes'. After all, an earlier version by JP was called 'Belladonna Took's Oaked Mild'.
Did a batch this past summer, stuck a label on it with the 'Belladonna Took' label and a picture of Gandolf on the back, and gave it to J.P.
And yes, I'm a geek, and D**n proud of it.

I have brewed that recipe actually, while it was pretty much perfect for it... i had already brewed it and seldom do i like brewing the same thing. But needless to say, that is on the schedule sometime to brew again as it was a really wonderful and nicely light on the alcohol... it impressed quite a number of people who visited when i had it on tap.

Excellent idea... going to have to think a bit about this. For some reason I would think Belgian associated with High Elves... so might go that route. Or something mild and english and a little nutty associated with Hobbits (seems a bit easy).

GF's post is a great place to start!

To be clear - brewday on Jan 3? or tap/open a beer for a pint on Jan 3?

Hmmm... look what I found. All references to drink in the material. http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Special:Search?search=drink&go=Go

Brewday was a few days ago, going with the beers ontap on the 3rd for a showing of movies from JRR Tolkien (well, not from him, but you know what i mean lord of the rings, hobbit, etc). That reference page that you posted is pretty much the best thing ever... i clicked on it earlier and had been searching for random things for quite a bit. Long live the internet!

i'll keep you posted how this all turns out

 

[rico567]

For what it's worth, if I were invited to your party, I'd be all over that porter.....

 

[mchrispen]

Well clearly we are hobbit focused since they are largely the protagonists... and I would assume (as did Tolkien in letters) that hobbit culture overlapped a bit with human and dwarf. There was little overlap with the high and low elf races. To that point, I wonder if we could sort styles into something more proper:

Hobbits: Milds, Browns, sessions - I don't indicates much in the way of patience and long aging, hence the Session idea, even for special ales. I would expect to see some gruit-like content. One of the references speaks to clover in ales, but could have also meant clover honey. Heather is also mentioned in the Shire travels as well as many flowers. We could start there (although I bet JP's porter is perfect). I would also guess a good cider is in bounds.

Dwarves: I see this as more assertive and alcoholic ales, such as old ale or higher gravity scotch ales, porters or stouts. It seems inline with their character, and they are long lived. I would imagine they made larger batches to fill up the larders and store, and had tremendous parties to consume it. Also - it would travel with them, so strong, perhaps a bit soured from aging. Perhaps stronger ciders as well - fortified with spices and herbs, maybe a bit medicinal. Dwarves were somewhat modeled after the Scottish and Viking peoples.

Men: Somewhere in the middle - men are not observed as being very creative, yet we see men drinking pints of ale in Bree at the Prancing Pony. Certainly cider as well - given the apples associated with the land surrounding Bree. Still men adapt to their surroundings - so meads and rougher beers for the mountain men and Rohans, perhaps more refined beers and wines (maybe darker and redder) for the Gondor folk. Of course, Aragorn would have pub crawled all of the north - so things are looking up without Sauron.

Bombadill - going to skip that one. Same for Treebeard's draught... too much mystical marketing

Elves: I see the elves being more in line with very fine meads, wines and highly refined beers. I mentioned Belgians previously, but really thinking strong saisons, goldens or tripels. Maybe a quad or dubbel for a long trip to wash down lembas. I would associate the farmhouse ales more with the wood elves than the high. I have no other grounds than a gut feeling. Could be argued off this point.

I wonder if a ghost pepper-spiced mead or beer would be appropriate for Sauron, of course, it should be blood red with a thick body. Something not quite quaffable. And for the orcs of ranks, decreasing darker, danker and thicker sweet beers, with a few floaties.

Forgive the ramblings - trying to figure out what I should brew - need to get it into the fermenter ASAP! I must choose!

 

[Rivenin]

Tonight is the night!

just took down the xmas tree a few days ago.

Anyone in portland wanna stop by for a beer?

 

[Rivenin]

Well clearly we are hobbit focused since they are largely the protagonists... and I would assume (as did Tolkien in letters) that hobbit culture overlapped a bit with human and dwarf. There was little overlap with the high and low elf races. To that point, I wonder if we could sort styles into something more proper:

Hobbits: Milds, Browns, sessions - I don't indicates much in the way of patience and long aging, hence the Session idea, even for special ales. I would expect to see some gruit-like content. One of the references speaks to clover in ales, but could have also meant clover honey. Heather is also mentioned in the Shire travels as well as many flowers. We could start there (although I bet JP's porter is perfect). I would also guess a good cider is in bounds.

Dwarves: I see this as more assertive and alcoholic ales, such as old ale or higher gravity scotch ales, porters or stouts. It seems inline with their character, and they are long lived. I would imagine they made larger batches to fill up the larders and store, and had tremendous parties to consume it. Also - it would travel with them, so strong, perhaps a bit soured from aging. Perhaps stronger ciders as well - fortified with spices and herbs, maybe a bit medicinal. Dwarves were somewhat modeled after the Scottish and Viking peoples.

Men: Somewhere in the middle - men are not observed as being very creative, yet we see men drinking pints of ale in Bree at the Prancing Pony. Certainly cider as well - given the apples associated with the land surrounding Bree. Still men adapt to their surroundings - so meads and rougher beers for the mountain men and Rohans, perhaps more refined beers and wines (maybe darker and redder) for the Gondor folk. Of course, Aragorn would have pub crawled all of the north - so things are looking up without Sauron.

Bombadill - going to skip that one. Same for Treebeard's draught... too much mystical marketing

Elves: I see the elves being more in line with very fine meads, wines and highly refined beers. I mentioned Belgians previously, but really thinking strong saisons, goldens or tripels. Maybe a quad or dubbel for a long trip to wash down lembas. I would associate the farmhouse ales more with the wood elves than the high. I have no other grounds than a gut feeling. Could be argued off this point.

I wonder if a ghost pepper-spiced mead or beer would be appropriate for Sauron, of course, it should be blood red with a thick body. Something not quite quaffable. And for the orcs of ranks, decreasing darker, danker and thicker sweet beers, with a few floaties.

Forgive the ramblings - trying to figure out what I should brew - need to get it into the fermenter ASAP! I must choose!

This... was awesome!

i think this maybe a yearly thing... maybe with some LOTR or even some of the classic cartoon versions i grew up with. And i'll refer to this and also come up with a few myself... if you're ever in the way of oregon. you have won yourself free beer at my place sir!

 

[mchrispen]

Unfortunately, work and the holiday ruined my intent to have something ready. Will have this planned right for next time... And may work up some recipes over the spring and summer as candidates.

 

[WarrynPeace]

I realize this is an old thread, but Bilbo and Frodo's birthday was September 22. I came across this when looking for some "proper 1420" recipe ideas. FWIW I brewed a southern english hazelnut brown. I'll give some feedback once it's bottled and carbed.

 

[Rivenin]

Glad to see this bumped! may try to do this again this year, we will see!