Brewing Beer with Spices

Spices have a big role to play in craft and home brewing. Not only do spices, herbs and flavorings create a unique product, but it’s also an excellent way to create flavors that the consumer already loves in other food and beverage products.

As the Spice Master at Italco, I’ve been selling spices and Citrus Peels to local Colorado brewers for over two decades. That’s how I met Keith Villa of Coors/Molson. I sold him prototype samples of Orange Peel and then thousands of pounds of Orange Peel to Coors until their needs grew larger.

Belgian White Ales like Blue Moon use both Coriander and Orange Peel. Italco sells a delightful series of Citrus Peels that are byproducts of the natural juice industry. The peel is non-sulfited (no sulphites added), fine or tea bag cut, and have no dead-fall fruit (reducing/eliminating the change for ecoli contamination from being picked up off of the ground). If you are a brewer, even a home brewer, I would always recommend peels with these characteristics.

Spices and Fruits in Beer Is Nothing New

You know about Hops in beer, but historians say that Hops were only the beginning. As far back as the 16th-century brewers were flavoring beer with a variety of spice including Juniper, Ginger, Nutmeg, Heather, Anise and many others.

These same flavorings are common in beer today and so are typical fruits like Pumpkin, Blueberries and Watermelon along with not-so-typical fruits like Milk Thistle, Hyssop, Elderberry, Spruce and Yarrow.

A few years ago, Sam Adams Brewing started adding Grains of Paradise also known as Melegueta Pepper. Currently, the Sam Adams Winter Lager uses Orange Peel, Ginger and Cinnamon.

A Recap On Beer Brewing Spices

So far I’ve mentioned a few beer brewing spices that you could consider in your craft or home-brewed beers. Here’s a quick list to re-cap.

• Orange Peel or Citrus Peels of any kind
• Pumpkin
• Blueberry
• Watermelon
• Milk Thistle
• Hyssop
• Elderberry
• Spruce
• Yarrow
• Heather
• Juniper
• Anise
• Cinnamon
• Coriander
• Ginger
• Grains of Paradise
• Nutmeg

More Beer Brewing Resources

My blog is not about brewing beer, so I won’t get into that, but I can point you to a few helpful resources. For starters, a friend of mine works at Home Brew Emporium and sells all of the basic ingredients for brewing beer. Here are a few more spice and beer resources for your perusing. Cheers!

Brewing with Spices on The How to Homebrew Magazine

A listing of herbed/spiced beer on the Beer Advocate 

Adding spices and herbs to sour beer on The Mad Fermentationist