Öl: barley beer with bog myrtle
Rustic beer brewed from malted barley, bittered and perfumed with bog myrtle (and not hops, still little used). Cloudy, low alcohol, slightly bitter and herbaceous: the everyday and festive drink of the North.
Rustic beer brewed from malted barley, bittered and perfumed with bog myrtle (and not hops, still little used). Cloudy, low alcohol, slightly bitter and herbaceous: the everyday and festive drink of the North.
Hold out your horn, friend, and may it not stay empty! This öl we drew from malted barley and bittered with bog myrtle — not that climbing plant the southerners are beginning to praise. It is what loosens tongues when we tell of voyages, it seals oaths at the banquet. Drink slowly: a horn is not set down before it is empty, such is the custom under my roof.
- •Malted barley — several measures (fermentable base)
- •Bog myrtle (gruit) — a handful (bittering and aromatic)
- •Spring water — as needed (liquid)
- •Wild yeasts (from the brewing vat) — natural (fermentation)
Öl: barley beer with bog myrtle
Rustic beer brewed from malted barley, bittered and perfumed with bog myrtle (and not hops, still little used). Cloudy, low alcohol, slightly bitter and herbaceous: the everyday and festive drink of the North.
Why this dish? No veizla without beer. In Leif's world, öl (barley beer) flowed in the drinking horns of the longhouse and accompanied oaths and reunions. Before hops, it was bittered with gruit — a mixture of plants including bog myrtle, abundant in Scandinavian peat bogs.
Hold out your horn, friend, and may it not stay empty! This öl we drew from malted barley and bittered with bog myrtle — not that climbing plant the southerners are beginning to praise. It is what loosens tongues when we tell of voyages, it seals oaths at the banquet. Drink slowly: a horn is not set down before it is empty, such is the custom under my roof.
Ingredients (period version)
- Malted barley — several measures (fermentable base)
- Bog myrtle (gruit) — a handful (bittering and aromatic)
- Spring water — as needed (liquid)
- Wild yeasts (from the brewing vat) — natural (fermentation)
Ingredients
- Crushed barley malt — 1.5 kg (base)
- Dried bog myrtle (Myrica gale) — 15 g (bittering (instead of hops))
- Water — 5 litres (liquid)
- Ale yeast — 1 packet (fermentation)
Method
- Mash the crushed malt in water heated to 65-68 °C and hold for 1 h to convert starches to sugars.
- Filter to recover the sweet wort, then bring to a boil.
- Add the bog myrtle and boil for 45 min to 1 h to bitter and aromatize.
- Quickly cool the wort to 20 °C, transfer, and pitch the yeast.
- Let ferment for about ten days away from light, then bottle and wait one to two weeks.
How it was made : Before the widespread use of hops (from the High Middle Ages onward), Nordic beers were bittered with gruit, a mixture of plants including bog myrtle (pors). Home brewing was an essential task, often done by women, and beer, low in alcohol and nourishing, was drunk by all, including children in a weak version. The drinking horn, impossible to set down when full, imposed its rhythm on the guests.
The contemporary twist : Served in a horn or a stoneware cup, fine foam and cloudy amber highlights, labeled 'Vinland gruit' for a Viking-themed aperitif.
Leif Erikson · Charactorium
