[rjharper]

One that jumps out at me is sumac

My wife is doing some test batches for a local one-man brewery (Blank Slate, Cincinnati, OH, http://www.blankslatebeer.com/index.shtml), and sumac is one of the things they're about to test. They're going to start by making some teas and blending them into a Belgian Blond to see what they get.

I'd love to know how that turns out. My probrewer buddy was thinking a sumac / saffron / hibiscus farmhouse.

[majorvices]

i tried saffron and did not care for the results. have been toying around w.hibiscus.

[brewsumore]

I used saffron in the BYO Midas Touch clone and I think it is a nice beer - one of the favored taps when folks come over to visit, although it's taking awhile to kill the keg.

[majorvices]

I used saffron in the BYO Midas Touch clone and I think it is a nice beer - one of the favored taps when folks come over to visit, although it's taking awhile to kill the keg.

LOL! I didn't care much for Midas Touch so there you go!

[brewsumore]

I used saffron in the BYO Midas Touch clone and I think it is a nice beer - one of the favored taps when folks come over to visit, although it's taking awhile to kill the keg.

LOL! I didn't care much for Midas Touch so there you go!

I bought it once - $14.00 for a 4-pack of 12 oz. bottles.  I wonder if the subliminal sales pitch is that if it was the drink of choice of a king for which everything he touched turned to gold, it must be more precious than gold. 

[jeffy]

When I was a kid living in central Kentucky, maybe 1965 or so, I pulled up a huge sassafras root by the side of the road.  A couple years ago, almost 50 years later, I put some of this, which is pretty much petrified at his point, into a club project beer.  It is cool that the aroma still comes through.

[brewsumore]

When I was a kid living in central Kentucky, maybe 1965 or so, I pulled up a huge sassafras root by the side of the road.  A couple years ago, almost 50 years later, I put some of this, which is pretty much petrified at his point, into a club project beer.  It is cool that the aroma still comes through.

You might not want to drink that.  Google "toxicity of sassafras"

http://www.drugs.com/npp/sassafras.html

[jeffy]

When I was a kid living in central Kentucky, maybe 1965 or so, I pulled up a huge sassafras root by the side of the road.  A couple years ago, almost 50 years later, I put some of this, which is pretty much petrified at his point, into a club project beer.  It is cool that the aroma still comes through.

You might not want to drink that.  Google "toxicity of sassafras"

http://www.drugs.com/npp/sassafras.html

Of course it's too late now, but I knew of the counter-indications.  There was no vomiting, stupor, lowering of body temperature, exhaustion, tachycardia, spasm, hallucinations, paralysis and collapse.

[majorvices]

When I was a kid living in central Kentucky, maybe 1965 or so, I pulled up a huge sassafras root by the side of the road.  A couple years ago, almost 50 years later, I put some of this, which is pretty much petrified at his point, into a club project beer.  It is cool that the aroma still comes through.

You might not want to drink that.  Google "toxicity of sassafras"

http://www.drugs.com/npp/sassafras.html

Of course it's too late now, but I knew of the counter-indications.  There was no vomiting, stupor, lowering of body temperature, exhaustion, tachycardia, spasm, hallucinations, paralysis and collapse.

Awe shucks!

[CASK1]

Dollarweed in a blonde ale (named One Dollar Whore). If you live in the southeast, you know what I mean. Added at flameout, which was a mistake. The beer tasted like cooked asparagus. I would like to try it again "dry" in the secondary as I can't help thinking the spicy aroma when I try to pull the stuff out of the landscaping would work well in a beer if done right. And in case anybody is wondering, it IS edible.

[reverseapachemaster]

I added a pill of an amino acid to some sugar I was caramelizing to test a hypothesis. It made sugar water taste like beef. That's probably the weirdest thing I've ever done.

Mesquite pods are probably the next strangest ingredient I've used.

[hopfenundmalz]

It is always fun to watch Peeps melt into the boil. Just a fun way to add sugar.

[morticaixavier]

One that jumps out at me is sumac

My wife is doing some test batches for a local one-man brewery (Blank Slate, Cincinnati, OH, http://www.blankslatebeer.com/index.shtml), and sumac is one of the things they're about to test. They're going to start by making some teas and blending them into a Belgian Blond to see what they get.

sumac is also sometimes called lemonade berry, or at least some varieties are. If you get a big bunch of the fresh berries that havn't been rained on and soak them in cold water then strain the water off and drink. tastes like lemonade... sorta. maybe dryberrying?

[factory]

I used epazote and mahlapi in a beer recipe that I took from "Extreme Brewing".  Turkey Drool was the name of the beer IIRC.  The epazote came through very heavily, but the mahlapi (crushed cherry pits) didn't have a very big impact from what I could tell. 

I won't be making that one again, it was not a very sessionable beer.  My friends all seemed to enjoy it, but the epazote was not to my liking.

[snowtiger87]

Besides Fantome yeast? 

Sweet Woodruff. I had no idea how much to add but it came dried in a 1 lb bag so I added it all at flame-out to a brown ale. I also remember the label said "Not to be consumed by humans". The beer was awful. More than that the bottles started breaking at the neck when I tried to open them. That got me worried so I threw out mist of the batch.