Brewing with Herbs & Spices

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine by thy food.”

Hippocrates

Cheers fellow Pythians!

At Pyth Brewing, we have been experimenting with brewing with organic herbs and spices. While brewing with these ingredients are nothing new in the craft brewing world, we are looking to emphasize the uniqueness of these wonderful additions in our beer. Not only do they provide flavor profiles that can enhance the complexity of our favorite libations, but they also have loads of medicinal properties as well.

The use of herbs and spices have been used for medicinal and healing purposes for thousands of years as a safe modality. Healing systems such as allopathic, homeopathic, Ayurvedic and Chinese have used certain herbs and spices for treatment of various maladies. Hippocrates (460-337 BC) is widely considered as the father of allopathic medicine.(1)

Pyth’s portfolio consists of four distinct and tasty beers that are built around the use of specific herbs and/or spices. More are on the way of course! Here is a description of our current lineup:

Our Gaussian Hefeweizen is based off of the German classic. This aromatic masterpiece gives off hints of bananas and clove, is light and highly drinkable. Freshly ground, organic clove rounds out this aromatic brew. Clove has been used to improve digestion, helps protect the liver (yes!) and is used as an anti-bacterial and anti-oxidant agent.

The flagship IPA, Metatron Session gives us hints of herbs, citrus and spiciness from the Cascade and Citra hops. The spiciness is accentuated with a touch of organic Allspice which is known for its sweet, spicy fragrance. The magical All-Spice is also a traditional medicine that is known to have anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-viral and anti-fungal properties.

Our malty hop monster, ERTH Imperial Black IPA, has generous amounts of CTZ hops and is dry hopped with Glacier hops rounding out the nose with a plumy, blackberry, woody aroma which gives a very ERTHY character. Cardamom spices things up! Cardamom has traditionally been used to support health digestion and as an anti-viral/fungal agent.

And finally, our Singularity Citrus Pale Ale with Mandarina Bavaria hops and Cascade finishing hops gives this pale ale a citrusy, piney taste/smell. The freshly ground organic orange peels add to the citrusy goodness. The organic coriander seed gives it a slight spiciness that combines well with the hints of orange. The coriander spice was traditionally used to support healthy digestion, is known to be have anti-inflammatory properties and can even lower bad cholesterol (LDL) and increase levels of good cholesterol (HDL).

We will continue to explore the melange of botanical deliciousness and combine them with our interpretations of the classic beer styles you all know and love.

Footnotes:

1. Khan, H. (2014). Medicinal Plants in Light of History. Journal of Evidence-Based Complementary & Alternative Medicine,19(3), 216-219. doi:10.1177/2156587214533346