Herbs and Spices in Brewing: Exploring Flavors Beyond Hops

This post is also available in:

Today hops are a primary ingredient in beer brewing, but this wasn’t always the case, since throughout history they were just one of many different herbs and spices used to flavor and preserve beer.

Hops became famous because they are very versatile. They can be used for bitterness, flavor or aroma, depending on when they are added to the boil, and they also help preserve the finished beer.

The Use of Herbs and Spices

The first documented mention of hops in brewing appears in the statutes that Adalard of Corbie, an abbot and cousin of Charlemagne, wrote in the year 822. Hopped beer did not reach England until around 1400, when merchants from Flanders and Holland began importing it through the port of Winchelsea.

In fact, the term “ale” was used to refer only to beer brewed without hops.

In 1530 King Henry VIII ordered his ale brewer at Eltham Palace not to use hops or brimstone. It was not a general ban on hops. The court also had a beer brewer, making the hopped version, and the order only sought to keep ale as ale, as historian Martyn Cornell documents on Zythophile.

Many English drinkers kept preferring traditional bittering herbs for centuries. One example is Mum, a dark wheat beer from Brunswick, Germany, which English brewers imitated with their own blends of herbs and spices.

These were often added as a “beer slurry” made from a mix of herbs such as burnet, betony, thyme, marjoram, elderflowers, rosemary, sage, chamomile and mint.

The herbs were usually added to the cask after fermentation had finished, much like dry hopping today. Sometimes the herbs were steeped in the beer just before drinking it.

Herbal beer is an ancient art that many brewers are rediscovering, and it was not so long ago that plant based beers were common and popular.

According to Michael Jackson‘s book “Beer Companion”, many large British breweries used ginger and licorice in their ales until about sixty years before the book was published in 1993.

The Belgians, for their part, have never abandoned herbs as a key ingredient in their renowned beers, a regional tradition that goes back hundreds of years.

Many of the most common herbs are available fresh or dried at the supermarket, at homebrew supply shops or at health food stores.

Some herbs are harder to find, and for several of them the only option is to buy some seeds and grow the plants.

Dried and fresh herbs have different characteristics, and it is good to be able to use both when brewing.

And there is no doubt that homegrown herbs, even if you use them dried, will be better, fresher and more aromatic than any you can buy.

Our English Mumme brewers use Sassafras and Ginger, Walnut Hulls, Elecampane Root, Watercress, Betony, Marjoram, Mother of Thyme, Pennyroyal, a handful each; of Blessed Thistle a handful, of Barberries bruised half an ounce, of Cardamoms bruised an ounce and a half. All these are to be put in when the liquor has wrought a while…

The Receipt Book, by John Nott, 1723

Aroma and Flavor Characteristics

Brewing herbs have different characteristics, just as different hop varieties do.

Most of the herbs traditionally associated with brewing are bitter. Others are more flavorful or more aromatic.

Which herb to use and when to use it will depend on the qualities of the herb and the type of beer you want to brew.

Some herbs are multipurpose, although none matches hops in overall usefulness. Beer with no hop character at all is an acquired taste.

Usually at least 14 grams of hops are added to a 20 liter batch of beer, even for the most herb laden ones.

Bittering Herbs and Spices

Bitter herbs include horehound, sage, dandelion, costmary (alecost), milk thistle, nettle, yarrow, gentian, clary sage and betony.

They are added at the start of the boil, either instead of or together with bittering hops.

The bitterness they give the beer does not necessarily resemble hop bitterness, and some can add unusual or medicinal flavors.

So it is best to go slowly at first, always using half as much dried herb as fresh. Roots are the exception, since they should always be dried before use.

Flavoring Herbs and Spices

Herbs that can be used for flavoring include juniper, the star of Finnish sahti, pine, rosemary, hyssop, borage, ginger, oregano, mints, wild bergamot, lemon balm, sweet woodruff, marjoram, elecampane, licorice and thyme.

Most of these have a strong flavor, so unlike aroma hops they should be added near the start of the boil.

The more delicate ones, such as borage and lemon balm, can be added in the last 15 minutes of the boil.

Some flavoring herbs also have powerful aromas and do double duty when added to beer.

Aromatic Herbs and Spices

Rosemary, hyssop, lavender, chamomile, lemon balm, bergamot, elderflowers and many other herbs can be used to give beer aroma.

They should only be added dried in the last minutes of the boil, as you would with aroma hops.

Any aromatic herb can also be used for dry hopping, and rosemary, a wonderfully aromatic herb, is a good choice for it.

A few sprigs added to the fermenter for a few days or a week before bottling will give the beer a delicate pine aroma.

Elderflower is a good herb for dry hopping mead, as well as for use in brewing beer.

Loose dried herbs can be placed in a dry hopping bag so they don’t all end up in the beer.

The risk of infecting beer with dried herbs is low, because the alcohol and acidity of finished beer hold back most of the microorganisms that live on them.

Low does not mean zero. Some lactic acid bacteria tolerate that environment, so it is wise to use dried herbs that are clean and well stored.

When in the Boil Should Each Type of Herb Be Added?

The rule of thumb depends on the herb’s role and on how volatile its aromas are, just as with hops.

This table summarizes the addition times described in the previous sections.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. What is the difference between “gruit” and modern craft beer?

Gruit is the historical term for the blend of herbs (such as yarrow, mugwort and heather) used to flavor and preserve beer before hops became standard. Unlike modern beer, which relies on hops for bitterness and microbiological stability, gruit style beers offer earthier, more herbal profiles and sometimes tonic or medicinal effects that hops do not have.

2. How do you calculate the bitterness equivalence between herbs and hops?

There is no exact IBU (International Bittering Units) formula for herbs, because their bitterness comes from oils and resins that differ from the alpha acids in hops. The usual practice is to replace only part of the bittering hops, start with low doses and first brew a test infusion in hot water to gauge the herb’s strength. If you use dried herbs, the starting dose is roughly half the weight you would use fresh.

3. Which herbs are best for replacing the citrus aroma of modern hops?

If you want to replicate the citrus notes of hops such as Citra or Centennial using botanicals, the best options are lemon verbena, lemon balm and lemongrass. They should be added in the last 5 to 10 minutes of the boil or cold in the fermenter, just like dry hopping, to preserve the volatile essential oils that provide that citrus freshness.

4. Is it safe to use any garden herb in brewing?

Not all plants are fit for human consumption or for a long boil. It is essential to use only food grade herbs and to avoid any that contain high levels of toxic alkaloids or that have not been correctly identified. Licorice is a special case. Its root contains glycyrrhizin, a saponin that homebrew suppliers recommend precisely to improve the head on stouts and porters, and it should be dosed sparingly because of its very intense sweet, aniseed flavor.

5. How do spices and herbs affect beer clarity?

Certain botanicals, especially those high in tannins or polyphenols (such as sage or rosemary), can increase beer haze. To keep the beer clear, use fine mesh bags for the herbs and add fining agents such as Irish Moss during the boil, or filter the wort again after chilling.

Recommended

• What Is Root Beer and Why Is It Called That?
• What Is Gruit? The Herb and Spice Blend Used in Beer Before Hops