Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers: The Secrets of Ancient Fermentation

I loved the heck out of this book. Although I'dnever brewed beer/ale before, I was able tobrew a satisfactory batch of gruit ale, from theinformation provided and homebrewing guidelinesfreely available online.Next, I'm going to try saffron ale. Maybe otherslater on.Also, in response to an earlier post, the sectionon henbane ale is extremely clear on the hazardsinvolved. Buhner has great respect for thepowers of the plants he uses.

I had heard about older brewing, beers before 1500 almost never used hops, and was lucky enough to come upon this book when trying to find out more. Wow! What a book. I read many beers books - how boring they are! Most brewing books are as dry and bitter as the beers they describe - a certain prescription for sleep (again, like the beers they describe). But not this one. There is great poetry and magic in this book - it is an enchanting and endearing read. The beauty and wonder of ancient brewers comes through in the author's language - even more wonderful, the book contains an extensive, up-to-date overview of the medicinal actions of the herbs used in beers throughout time. Please, read this book, and help begin the move away from hopped beers to more healthy, wonderful tasting beers like yarrow ale, elder ale, and ginger beer. I can't recommend this book enough!

I find this book fascinating! Months after buying it, I find myself sitting down to look for a recipe to try, and spending hours reading the historical and herbal notes. Never would have expected the best herbal I own to be a beer book! There is also information on the religious practices of early Celts and Norwegians as they relate to the use of herbs, as well as lots of information on the spiritual use of herbs by modern traditional peoples.As for the beers themselves, Buhner takes a relaxed attitude. Indigenous people make beer without fancy equipment, and we can too. What matters most is what tastes good to us--which means we have to do a lot of experimenting! There are lots of recipes to try here, from the Middle Ages up to the present. But the choice is not as wide as it first looks, because not all of the ingredients are easily available. If you get into this, the next book you'll want may be "The Brewer's Garden."