I am brewing a black lager in the next couple of weeks. Does anyone have any input on a spice/flavoring that would go well in dark beer? I am looking for something unexpected and not the usual suspects (cinnamon, vanilla, chocolate, etc).
New Belgium apparently adds a spice to their 1554 black lager which I never knew until recently. Most think it is grains of paradise but I have no idea. I plan to do a black lager with 1554 in mind but am not attempting to clone it by any means. It kind of gave me the idea to add an unexpected ingredient. I am just looking for something to add some complexity and an interesting note.
Have you ever tried licorice root in beer? It doesn’t have the anise flavor associated with candy licorice but a more subtle earthy component. Perhaps more importantly it adds a sweetness and viscosity (mouthfeel) that I feel is a wonderful counterpoint to roasty flavors, especially if you are using any black malt. You need to add it to the boil for I would say at least 20 minutes to extract the flavors. The sweetness is added without there being any fermentables.
Actually what I like about licorice is that it is not that^^^^^ Which I generally don’t like, only because its so often overdone.
Most people wouldn’t know there was a spice.
I use it all the time in medicinal teas. It makes the tea sweet and the viscosity accentuates that and also masks anything that might be astringent. Its also good for the adrenal glands which is good if your a coffee drinker or stressed out a lot.
Maybe try cardamom. I haven’t used it, but I can picture it working. It’s a sweet/floral spice and is one of the primary ingredients in Turkish coffee and Garam Masala spice blends. I’d go really easy with it, though.
I was doing some research into 1554 clone recipes. New Belgium shares information up to a point and a lot of users from another forum had posted NB’s responses. There was more than one that mentioned a spice at the end of the boil just reaching the flavor threshold. The other thing I learned is that they use a lager strain at ale temps.
Don’t have notes with me but likely 3 TB for 5 gallons. Maybe try making a tea by dedocting for twenty minutes with x amount of licorice in say a quart of water and see how the sweetness and mouthfeel is.
I love cardamom and will try it in beer someday. To me it would be a tricky one to brew with because of its strength. If you get it right it can be just the thing to make it special. Too much and blecht! its ruined. Its like cloves that way.
I used licorice root a time or two before in stout, but it might be a really good idea to leave it out. There have been studies done in the last year or two linking it to heart arrhythmias that have landed people in the hospital. One link is from the FDA, the other from the Cleveland Clinic. And I realize there have been studies done that showed other substances could MAYBE be harmful if you ate/drank 3 tons of it every day for 100 years, but the potentially dangerous amount here is actually pretty small. Not worth the risk to me.
EDIT - I work in a hospital where I’ve heard doctors talk about it - it made me curious because I had brewed with licorice root a time or two (as mentioned), so I researched it.
safranol (or similar) is carcinogenic, at least in the lab to rats. All sarsaparilla and rootbeer now uses either synthetic flavors or versions of extract with that ingredient removed.
I’ve got a recipe from the Brooklyn Brew Shop’s Beer Making Book that uses cardamom seeds. For a 5 gallon batch, they use 15 green seeds, saying they add notes of rich citrus, blood orange and Meyer lemons. They also suggest swapping black seeds for the green to give a ‘complex smokiness.’ I haven’t tried either yet, but they are both on my to do list.
Right, but DIY recipes don’t necessarily use extract. I’m not talking about the gnome sodas, but rather if you go out and gather your own roots and berries and whatnot (which I do not do).