Putting together a wormwood gruit

[jmccraney]

I recently learned a friend has a wormwood bush (the absinthium variety) growing in her garden and would like to put together a beer with it. I know the concentrations in an ale will have little to no psychoactive effect, that is not the goal (though not a deal breaker). For those of you who have brewed a gruit or two, what advice do you have for brewing something palatable? Specifically:

-- When do you add wormwood? What are the flavor and aroma differences between boil, flameout, and dry-hopping additions? What do you recommend?
-- What other traditional herbs go well with wormwood? I've read that sweet gale/march rosemary/labrador tea, yarrow, juniper, heather etc. were used in gruit, but specifically what goes with wormwood? And of course how would I best use those herbs as well?
-- How do the flavors change with age? What kind of aging would you recommend for the wormwood to reach its best and how would the accompanying herbs change in that time?
--What kind of grist? Thinking something like a ~6% Scottish ale or English brown, but I'm obviously open to suggestions.
--Are there any other resources I should check out before brewing? I've read through several threads here, most of gruitales.com, and I have "Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers" and "Radical Brewing" en route to my library, but I'm always open to more learning.

I hope some of you folks have had success with gruit and can lend your experience. Thanks in advance!

 

[thegreatmaibockaddict]

I did a porter-gruit recently. I put 7 different spices, herbs, etc including wormwood into the mash. Used about 15 IBU of bittering hops in the boil.

It came out very interesting. Was very well received, especially by those who preferred dark malty beers, and the mash additions came through very well in the finished product. We used a few ounces of rose hips, wormwood, heather, mugwort, juniper berries, eldeberry flowers, and one other that escapes me that was fresh picked from my friend's yard...

 

[jmccraney]

I did a porter-gruit recently. I put 7 different spices, herbs, etc including wormwood into the mash. Used about 15 IBU of bittering hops in the boil.

It came out very interesting. Was very well received, especially by those who preferred dark malty beers, and the mash additions came through very well in the finished product. We used a few ounces of rose hips, wormwood, heather, mugwort, juniper berries, eldeberry flowers, and one other that escapes me that was fresh picked from my friend's yard...

Interesting, why did you add the herbs to the mash? Any thoughts on how those herbs went together? and especially with the wormwood.

 

[jmccraney]

Anyone else have suggestions on how to use wormwood, or what goes well with it?