On Friday I brewed up some tree beer using Leyland Cypress boughs in the strike and sparge water as well as in the mash vessel. OG was ~1.050 and I split the boil to brew up a saison and a pale ale with galaxy and sultana (denali) hops. The saison is fermenting with a wild yeast culture I captured from my neighbor's raw honey and the pale ale has Framgarden kveik. They're both fermenting at 87°F/30.5°C
The Leyland Cypress gives the beer a pleasant evergreen/christmas tree flavor that's a bit citrusy and not too overwhelming. I've brewed with this tree a number of times and thoroughly researched it so I'm fully confident that it is not toxic. I don't measure the amount of tree I put in the beer, basically just put branches into the kettle until it's annoying to try to add another one.
There's a good article about brewing with birch on the Brewing Nordic website
hey, you answered the question i was thinking about last night in bed: what if i didn't want to make soda? thanks!
LOL it didn't even register in my brain that birch beer and sarsaparilla might not be fermented alcoholic beverages
I spent like a year trying to get a good root beer recipe. If it didn't taste like mint soda, it tasted like licorice juice. Leave the anise and mint out and it tasted worse tho. It may be my white whale