Rosemary beer - recommendations.

[Symbiote]

Has anybody got experience with using rosemary in place of hops in beer?

Planning to make a batch using some fresh rosemary that a friend gave us, and was wondering how much to use for a 5 gallon batch of pale ale.

Google has been less than informative.

 

[Revvy]

There's a guy also using bay leafs in a beer, which is another one of those great herbs, that I wouldn't begin to know how to use. But surprisingly other folks on here have;

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/smoked-rosemary-stout-what-do-you-think-192874/?highlight=rosemary

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/whos-used-rosemary-62749/?highlight=rosemary

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/rosemary-saison-182987/?highlight=rosemary

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/rosemary-my-saison-69617/?highlight=rosemary

Wow, I'm impressed. Hopefully these will help.

 

[Symbiote]

Thanks Revvy, sometimes forget that hbt has a search feature.

hee hee

 

[Revvy]

Thanks Revvy, sometimes forget that hbt has a search feature.

hee hee

I'm surprised so many have tried....keep this thread active and post what you are considering doing and how it goes.

 

[Symbiote]

O.k., just mashed in.

 

[brettwasbtd]

Let us know how this turns out! I just recently had the Saison Du Buff by The collaboration of DogFishHead, Victory and Stone. It had rosemary, thyme, sage and parsley...you could smell all of of them... but could only really taste one...cant remember which. It was surprisingly refreshing

 

[Revvy]

Did you ever tells us the recipe you decided to go with?

 

[Symbiote]

Sho nuff.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/rosemary-gruit-mash-204170/

With pics

 

[mattyp1214]

Saison du buff is great! I've had the batches brewed at stone and dogfish, still waiting to try the victory batch.
I'm interested to hear what you find and how it turns out may try this soon too

 

[Flashman1]

Not gruit but -

Epic Brewing in Salt Lake City makes an excellent rosemary-sage ale called Utah Sage Saison. I was so inspired I'm going to try duplicating it.

 

[CeJ]

I went to a brewfest in Savannah last year and they had a rosemary IPA that was excellent. As soon as I got home I tried dryhopping my IPA with some fresh rosemary and it turned out pretty good. Just be careful because fresh rosemary can go a loooong way. That was the main complaint about my beer was the rosemary being a little too strong.

 

[11oclockBrewery]

How much rosemary did you add? Was it 'dry hopped'?, if so for how long? Fresh or Dried Rosemary?

 

[Brewmendous]

Just happened across this while looking for some ideas to cook with rosemary, and thought i'd chime in even though i'm digging up an old thread.

Last summer I made a Belgian quad with plums and rosemary after having a plum, rosemary goat cheese scone that blew my mind. Came up with the recipe before I saw that Sierra Nevada does a plum quad, and was actually a bit scared off because that beer to me tasted like burnt bitter plums. Anyway, it turned out fantastic (pairs excellently with goat cheese) and is probably the coolest beer I've ever made. All in all, I used 4 sprigs of rosemary. 2 at flame out, then decided it needed more so basically made a "tea" with another two sprigs and dumped that in.

Keep in mind that rosemary does have a minty type note to it, and is very strong so I think the balancing act can be tricky. But if done well it is good. Probably goes without saying, but my quad was high abv (~12%) so take that into consideration when deciding how much to use.

 

[Revvy]

I've been roasting peaches with rosemary and honey a lot lately. I think I'm going to to a 1 gallon mead with that flavor profile soon.

 

[wfu900]

I brewed a split batch of Belgian Tripel. Kept half traditional and the other half, I added orange zest and rosemary at knockout. The rosemary smell was there when I chilled it. Tasting notes to come soon. Recipe is here http://brewingoutofbounds.blogspot.com/2015/02/bottle-cultured-saison-and-orange.html

 

[Remmy]

I've had a Rosemary Dunkel that I thought was fantastic. My favorite beer from Black Hog.

 

[11oclockBrewery]

Id do 0.2 ounces of fresh rosemary tips at flameout, then also another 0.2 ounces soaked in vodka for a day use to "dry hop" with. for a 4-6 days

I made a nice romemary-rye ale with this