Henbane in beer?

[steppenwolph]

According to this article on Iron Age beer brewing technique (a very interesting read, including how they malted barley in trenches dug in the ground) claims that ancient Celts used 'henbane' ,among other herbs, in their beer (this being prior to the use of hops) and that this would make the beer more intoxicating. Does anyone know any more about this? Anybody tried it? I wonder what flavor the henbane would add. I would be interested in giving this a try if I knew that the 'intoxicating' effect of the henbane wasn't a symptom of the henbane trying to kill me. Also, their beer was a sour beer, using some kind of lactic acid bacteria in their fermentation. And according to the Roman emperor Julian, the beer smells like 'billy goat.' So maybe duplicating the exact recipe isn't a good idea. But the extra kick from the henbane sounds like fun, if it isn't poisonous.

 

[PVH]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyoscyamus_niger

I like my beer sans hallucinations, but to each his own.

 

[steppenwolph]

Those ancient Celts must have been a tough bunch! The henbane looks a trifle too toxic for me to play with! Still, if I ever want to hear an oracle from Apollo, I'll know what to brew.

 

[philoserf]

I have seen additional sources suggesting henbane as a bittering agent in beer into the Middle Ages. We know many things were used in many places local. The distribution of henbane beyond its origin also suggests widespread use.

 

[hotbeer]

Hops tend to preserve beer and keep it tasting fresher tasting longer as well as bitter it. Most all the other herbs and stuff they were using prior didn't let it taste and smell good for very long.

Till the advent of hops for brewing, the concoctions were mostly just the brewing's of the local "witches" I think.

 

[Boleslaus]

I read that article recently as well and was wondering how accurate it was. So many different herbs and plants were used before hops so simply by trial and error I'm sure nearly every intoxicating plant was added at some point. Also probably trial and error on how much in too much...

 

[Drinking Sensibly]

The history of ale and how it ties into medieval economics is fascinating.
Ale was made with a mix of herbs called gruit. No-one knows for certain what plants went into gruit but plants such as Bog Myrtle and bog beans likely played a part.
The ground that gruit was collected from by the brewers was owned by people with positions such as Bishops, the brewers paid for rights to collect gruit, this constituted an income for the owners.
Ale soured quickly because it wasn't boiled. It was drank after mashing.
https://books.google.co.uk/books/ab...ir=0&gboemv=1&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

[Peebee]

Eee ... one of my favourites! Contains "Scopolamine" which I think is an arcane word ... Hyoscine now? (But I'm arcane so "scroplamine", I would always mispronounce it). Never grew near me during my mis-spent youth so never "experimented" with it (I would certainly been one to try brewing with it). I'd probably try the other use but I didn't have the right tackle (being a bloke): Mixed with other "interesting" herbs including rendered fat, it could be smeared on a stick, such as a broomstick perhaps, and ... use your imagination! (Wheeee ... I'm flying ...).

Fortunate that I had none growing locally! It is deadly poisonous if too much used (deadly nightshade is in the same list of similar toxins). Its lethal tendances is possibly why we chose (still!) to give it travel-sick prone kiddies. In my later years I get to try "Hyoscine" ... I get travel-sick now.

 

[MicroMickey]

Many of the components of gruit got their start as traditional medicinal concoctions to treat various ailments of the human condition.

In Wales, the ingredients of gruit consisted of wild sage, saxifrage, betony (Bishop’s wort), wild marjoram, and thyme in various mixtures.

The Medieval English brewer utilized sweet gale, marsh rosemary, millfoil, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, ground ivy, nutmeg, mace, fennel, mugwort (wormwood), guinea pepper, and mint.

The ancient Britons used mugwort (wormwood), bayberry, ground ivy, pine & willow bark, cascarilla bark, broom, extract of aloe, and calocynth (bitter apple).

 

[Peebee]

Many of the components of gruit got their start as traditional medicinal concoctions ...

Ooo ... more fuel for my corrupt past memories: The Welsh gruit seems pretty harmless? Don't know where I got it all from.

The English gruit ... Sweet Gale (Bog Myrtle is a more earthy name) and Marsh Rosemary are pretty standard gruit additives ... can't say I've ever found "Marsh Rosemary" growing though. Mugwort (wormwood), now that's more interesting: Turns your vision yellow! "Xanthopsia", got Van Gogh apparently, there's loads of wormwood in absinth too.

"Calocynth"? Never heard of it. Had to look it up on Google:

Taking even very small amounts of colocynth can cause severe irritation of the stomach and intestine lining, bloody diarrhea, kidney damage, bloody urine, and inability to urinate. Other side effects include convulsions, paralysis, and death.

Humm. There seems to be a theme to the "good for you" stuff they put in beer?

 

[MicroMickey]

In 1357, the ‘novus modus fermentandi cervisiam’ dictated that this ‘new method of brewing’ required the “new herb” (hops) to be separate from gruit and to be boiled with the wort. Gruit had not been processed that way as it was added during fermentation or even post fermentation.

This surprised me as I had assumed that it was like throwing in a few herbs at the end of the boil like a Belgian Wit or Saison. "History" is too often predicated on assumptions.