Hobbit Brew?

[TheCrane]

Off topic, but I thought you went by "The Fume" these days.

 

[Zymurgrafi]

Hence the Church monopoly I have read.

Yes, he proposes that the switch to hops had alot to do with politics and the reformation. He also speculates that the german purity laws were actually one of the first anti-drug laws ever in that they demanded the use of hops over more "dangerous" herbs. Hops were safer because they induced sleep more than any other effect.

Take it or leave it.

 

[The Drizzle]

Off topic, but I thought you went by "The Fume" these days.

Very good, 2 points.

 

[The Drizzle]

Yes, he proposes that the switch to hops had alot to do with politics and the reformation. He also speculates that the german purity laws were actually one of the first anti-drug laws ever in that they demanded the use of hops over more "dangerous" herbs. Hops were safer because they induced sleep more than any other effect.

Take it or leave it.

Yes, i've been hankering to give a wild gruit a try see if I can get any of those *ahem* effects

 

[cheezydemon]

I enjoy tangents and differences of opinion. I took your comments good naturedly drizzle
I admire your defense of Tolkien against the percieved insult oflannagan.

CAN'T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG!!!!Lol

I suggest that we settle on a style and recipe an all of us that give a **** can brew it. Sound cool? GOOD!

Who's with me?

 

[The Drizzle]

I enjoy tangents and differences of opinion. I took your comments good naturedly drizzle
I admire your defense of Tolkien against the percieved insult oflannagan.

CAN'T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG!!!!Lol

I suggest that we settle on a style and recipe an all of us that give a **** can brew it. Sound cool? GOOD!

Who's with me?

10carrots

 

[yeastybeasty]

Well, I'm pretty sure there's specific mention of porter in The Hobbit (one of the dwarves asks for it) but other than the fact that the beer was made with locally grown barley I'm not aware of other details. I remember coming across a webpage a few years ago devoted to this topic, where some guy had compiled all references to beer and brewing in Tolkien's works but I can't find it now (sorry).

 

[olllllo]

And thus the Fellowship of the Ales was wrought.

 

[cheezydemon]

One beer to be brewed by all, One beer to find them! One beer to consume their thoughts and in the darkness...... get them really sh*tfaced!

I get to be the elf!!! Lol.

 

[hoffmeister]

Holy Crap! I posted this barely an hour and a half ago, and look at the responses! Thanks everyone, I had no idea this would go over so well. I think the general consensus so far has been a mild brown for the Hobbiton region, I think that opting for herbs rather than hops is a good way to go. Like someone mentioned, given the current shortage in some areas, this might now be a bad time to give this a try. I'm honestly not too up on my indigenous British herbs, but does anyone have any thoughts as to what might be appropriate? Also, I know it's generally not part of the style of a brown mild, but I was thinking about using a small quantity of oak chips in the secondary to simulate the casks they used, since I'm sure they didn't have glass or stainless fermenters Good idea, bad idea?

I did a cursory glance through Fellowship last night and I didn't see anything specifically related to beer, but I'll take a better look when I get home. I'll also consult some of the other materials, as someone suggested. Thanks again everyone, I'm glad this is going over so well!

 

[cheezydemon]

No, you are still a geek.

(just kidding)

OK, a brown ale using oak chips is good, herbs might be open to what would taste best. Hobbiton wasn't london, even if it was based on it, Tolkien didn't put humans in hobbiton so he must have wanted some subtle differences eh? And I don't want to brew something gross.

 

[Ó Flannagáin]

No, you are still a geek.

(just kidding)

OK, a brown ale using oak chips is good, herbs might be open to what would taste best. Hobbiton wasn't london, even if it was based on it, Tolkien didn't put humans in hobbiton so he must have wanted some subtle differences eh? And I don't want to brew something gross.

i guess a good idea now would be to see if they talk about food recipes in the text, and what spices/herbs they may have used. I suspect some rosemary possibly found its way into their taters!

I will probably still put a small amount of fuggles or east kent in mine, i like to believe the hobbits had some hops around and ol gaffer probably had a few vines in his garden. I need to dig my copies out from the moving boxes that are STILL unpacked!

 

[Zymurgrafi]

Perhaps his works need a rereading with this perspective in mind (oh boy this is going to be a long project!)

Scan for mention of herbs and brews. Of course, Tolkien often used old names or invented his own for things. Could be alot of research for somebody!

As to oak chips, why not. Probably would be sour as well. A mild historically refered to a fresh beer that had not yet gotten sour with age. Supposedlyt they were up to 8% abv so they weren't milds in the sense of todays terms.

I still think investing gruit ales is the way to go. Beers like browns and milds in todays terms were not really named as such from what I understand. I don't think you can start with a modern style to do this.

Then again, it is all about a fantasy world in the end... :fro:

 

[Brakeman_Brewing]

Dont Merry and Pippin sing about drinking brown ale in their hometown or something?

 

[blacklab]

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

 

[cheezydemon]

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

I am missing something here. What, his hair is BROWN? Oh, is he the obese wow player? Gotcha.

We need an herb that would make it bitter, or we could pretend that they had hops. I personally don't want a psychoactive beer, that just sounds dangerous and probably illegal.

The dwarves preferred stout. Interesting.

 

[Monk]

Interesting thread! This is just the sort of nerdiness that I can get into. Incidentally, I know that both C.S. Lewis and Tolkien were down for some ale. I did my philosophy degree under a professor who did his degree (Lit/Phil) under Lewis. I forget the name of their little group, but they were famous for taking long hikes that always ended at an old fashioned type pub where they loved traditional ales. You can totally see how that comes through in LOTR. I'm inspired. Next to some Middle Earth brews. Is it just me, or does it look like Saruman must have had all those orcs brewing some nasty BMC all industrial-style under his tower?

 

[JoSeR]

I seem to remember much more drinking going on in the hobbit like when they were floating down the river on the kegs as well as the party in the beginning

 

[Ó Flannagáin]

I seem to remember much more drinking going on in the hobbit like when they were floating down the river on the kegs as well as the party in the beginning

That was wood elf wine, no? Or was it beer?

 

[cheezydemon]

Interesting thread! This is just the sort of nerdiness that I can get into. Incidentally, I know that both C.S. Lewis and Tolkien were down for some ale. I did my philosophy degree under a professor who did his degree (Lit/Phil) under Lewis. I forget the name of their little group, but they were famous for taking long hikes that always ended at an old fashioned type pub where they loved traditional ales. You can totally see how that comes through in LOTR. I'm inspired. Next to some Middle Earth brews. Is it just me, or does it look like Saruman must have had all those orcs brewing some nasty BMC all industrial-style under his tower?

Lol
SARUMAN: "Oh my dark minions! Have you stolen the rice and the tiny bit of grain for our brew! And you there! Yes you! did you steal the 2 ounces of hops to put in our 8 million gallon brew kettle?"

I am with you Joser, I think that the clues may be in The Hobbit, not the LOTR. I hope to take a look tinight.

 

[JoSeR]

That was wood elf wine, no? Or was it beer?

Not sure, anyone have a copy of the hobbit handy?

 

[cheezydemon]

Not sure, anyone have a copy of the hobbit handy?

Pretty sure some were ale casks. Some were definitely apple barrels, but some were wine or beer.

What about at the meeting in the beginning? Any clues about the ale or where he stored it? We are probably talking about flat beer, no?

 

[Zymurgrafi]

I am missing something here. What, his hair is BROWN? Oh, is he the obese wow player? Gotcha.

We need an herb that would make it bitter, or we could pretend that they had hops. I personally don't want a psychoactive beer, that just sounds dangerous and probably illegal.

The dwarves preferred stout. Interesting.

Well, the herbs traditionally brewed with were bittering agents. They were not all psychotropic and some such as yarrow are typical garden flowers. Supposedly myrica gale is available from some HBS. Wild marsh rosemary is another story. It is NOT related to the culinary rosemary herb btw.

Here are the first few links I pulled up for gruit.

http://www.gruitale.com/

http://www.fortunecity.com/boozers/brewerytap/555/gruit.htm

Oh and heather ale was also apparently huge in the british isles (especiall northern parts) prior to hops. i believe there are even some commercial breweries making it today (sans hops)

 

[TheJadedDog]

I am a complete nerd (hence I spend my time on a computer message board devoted to homebrewing) and I know a bit about the Lord of the Rings. If I had to make a guess I would tell you that at least in Hobbiton, and probably in Bree as well, they would be drinking what we would consider English Ale. This is because Hobbiton was Tolkein's idealized vision of pre-war of England.

As for drinking ale in the other cultures of Middle Earth, I couldn't say other than that all of Middle Earth is meant to be similar to Northern Europe. Perhaps there were other ale styles and Lagers but I would still be willing to bet English Style Ale dominants.

The books were originally intended as a Saxon myth as England does not actually have any myths of her own (the King Arthur story being written by the French) so I would assume all the ale was English in Tolkein's mind (the pubs and drinking scenes described in the book would seem to support this).

So there is my super geeky answer to the question. I return now to my lvl 50 Hunter in Kalimdor

 

[JoSeR]

Pretty sure some were ale casks. Some were definitely apple barrels, but some were wine or beer.

What about at the meeting in the beginning? Any clues about the ale or where he stored it? We are probably talking about flat beer, no?

I would say a flat or nearly flat for sure, I understand it was almost impossible to get the fed-ex guy to deliver kegging supplies to middle earth
They all got loaded at the meeting in the beginning and I think there is a reference to what they were drinking?

 

[Zymurgrafi]

here are some commericial "historic ales"

http://www.fraoch.com/historicales.htm

 

[cheezydemon]

here are some commericial "historic ales"

http://www.fraoch.com/historicales.htm

Interesting, and it reminded me that bree was another word for wort.

Bree Beer........ Maybe some idiot's mis-spelling of bree gave us the word beer.

 

[cheezydemon]

I would say a flat or nearly flat for sure, I understand it was almost impossible to get the fed-ex guy to deliver kegging supplies to middle earth
They all got loaded at the meeting in the beginning and I think there is a reference to what they were drinking?

I just remembered! I read an article a few weeks ago that said that brown malt and brown ales don't have the traditional flavor because the grains are traditionally kilned over a wood burning fire and have a smoky flavor!

 

[JoSeR]

Am I hearing smoke beer?

 

[cheezydemon]

A little smoke, not like smoking the grains in a smoker, but... fire toasted I guess.