So i'm trying to brew some beer for a friend who is alergic to hops...

[skibb]

Anyone here experimented around with using other types of bittering agents besides hops? And if so did you brew it without hops? I know that people have been brewing beers without hops for thousands of years and i'm curious if anyone here has attempted to brew such historical beers like this.

My friend pretty much likes all different kinds of beers, though she isn't a fan of meads (which i originally thought would be an OK substitute). Any first hand experiences or links/citations to bittering ingredients and implementing them into your brew (techniques etc) would greatly be appreciated!

 

[tkone]

spruce tips, heather? radical brewing by mosher has a good couple of these

 

[Nurmey]

The word you are looking for is Gruit. I don't know how many gruit recipes we have in the database but google will find you some. I have a friend that brews a lot of gruits and tends to use heather for most of them.

 

[Scut_Monkey]

I've heard of breweries bittering simply with cocoa nibs for chocolate flavored beers. I forget what brewery it is but I'm sure someone around here knows.

 

[Eigenmusic]

green tea and citrus peel.

Something like a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyokuro and mandarin orange peel.