This is the first comprehensive book ever written on the sacred aspects of indigenous, historical psychotropic and herbal healing beers of the world.
| ||||||||||||
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
Review
Filled with nourishment for the soul, body, and mind, this book is a unique view of the intersection between herbal medicine and fermentation. It will delight anyone interests in herbs, honey, brewing and folktales. Great Book! -- Susan S. Weed, Author of Healing Wise
From the Back Cover
Fermentation and plant use--as medicine, as psychotropics, as teachers, as companions on life's path--are an inescapable part of our exploration of what it means to be human. Thus, this book conflicts with a number of popular beliefs about alcohol, plants, and the nature of material reality. It is, therefore, not politically correct.
. . . The ancient beers, created . . . between 10,000 and 30,000 years ago, were quite different from what we know as beer today. Many were sacred beers, and hundreds contained medicinal herbs.--From the book
The author's beautiful and provocative exploration of the sacredness and folklore of ancient fermentation is revealed through 200 plants and hive products. Includes 120 recipes for ancient and indigenous beers and meads from 31 countries and six continents--and the most complete evaluation of honey ever published.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? |
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
65 of 67 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
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."
37 of 38 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Stephen's book on beers is great because you learn about brewing, other cultures (human), and herbs. He is also very clear about how powerful plants can be, and for each herb he gives 2-5 paragraphs of well cited information. Some of the measurements are a little vague or confusing in the recipes but like he says the point is to make a mess and have fun. This is a great read for anyone into health as well, just for the chapter on fermented honey and bee products alone. And if he includes a recipe with jimson weed or henbane, he is very clear about the inherent risks. Lighten up and drink some meade.
28 of 28 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
First a word on safety. A few of these recipes use toxic ingredients. In general, my studies all suggest however that these ingredients both have long records in brewing and also are reasonably safe in that area. This includes both mandrake and henbane. In fact, henbane was smoked in the Middle Ages, and evidence exists for its use in beer for thousands of years. Mandrake was well known medicinally mixed with wine (Dioscorides mentions it, and mandrake wine seems to have been utilized by Hannibal as a narcotic). However, in all things some caution is required, and there are a few other steps I'd recommend:
1) It's probably a good idea to try small doses of such recipes until you know how your body will respond.
2) It's probably a good idea to do further research before you make up your mind on these matters.
Now for a word on substance. This book is written from a very primitivist perspective. The author is upfront about his views in this area, and tries to share them. I didn't feel like the book was overly proselytizing in this area, though I recognize that some fellow reviewers differ here.
Secondly he advocates what one might call "unscientific brewing." I'm a big fan of unscientific brewing. I've brewed in similar ways for nearly two decades. In this way, sense, artistry, and experience are used to produce a beer, mead, etc rather than rigorous measurement and control. For example, I sterilize all my equipment with heat (I don't use chemicals), I don't even own a hydrometer, and and I brew beer using touch and feel rather than time and temperature. In this way, I sacrifice some repeatability for variation and an ability to improvise at each step. Sometimes my recipes flop but since each one is an experiment, I just take note about what failed and go on. I figure this is the way brewing was done for centuries and I don't need to change. My view on this, as a long-time "unscientific brewer" is subtly different than Bruhner's. I think to some extent his writings make light of the careful ways that traditional cultures may have for controlling wort infection and the like, and tends to gloss over the role of deep, long-term experience in what was traditionally an art form much like poetry. These shortcomings may be acceptable given his audience (those just starting out), but it's worth noting up front. All in all, I think this is an important contribution to the area of brewing in this area. I may not agree with him on every point, but more voices help us all move forward.
Thirdly he provides a large number of recipes. These include molasses-based drinks, white sugar-based drinks, fermented fruit-based beverages, and the like. In general these track various other attempts at various beverages that I have seen, and many of his recipes are taken from old sources. These do not fit in well with standard contemporary brewing approaches which frown on sucrose sources and favor fructose instead, but when one is experienced (see paragraph above), one can still take them as inspiration and adapt them to whatever one wants to make (substituting honey for white sugar, for example). At the same time, I have had commercially produced molasses "beers" (i.e. brewed with molasses instead of malted grain) and they are quite pleasant. Consequently I have to assume that most of the recipes would be just fine how they are. I would however note that it is likely that "sugar" in many of the old recipes was the sort of dried cane syrup one can find at Mexican grocers than the white sugar we use today. This area could be fertile ground for future research.
However, whatever faults this book has, it's still a fascinating journey into another world in terms of brewing. I enjoyed it and I see why it was highly recommended to me. It is a solid contribution to this field and I'd highly recommend it to others.
1) It's probably a good idea to try small doses of such recipes until you know how your body will respond.
2) It's probably a good idea to do further research before you make up your mind on these matters.
Now for a word on substance. This book is written from a very primitivist perspective. The author is upfront about his views in this area, and tries to share them. I didn't feel like the book was overly proselytizing in this area, though I recognize that some fellow reviewers differ here.
Secondly he advocates what one might call "unscientific brewing." I'm a big fan of unscientific brewing. I've brewed in similar ways for nearly two decades. In this way, sense, artistry, and experience are used to produce a beer, mead, etc rather than rigorous measurement and control. For example, I sterilize all my equipment with heat (I don't use chemicals), I don't even own a hydrometer, and and I brew beer using touch and feel rather than time and temperature. In this way, I sacrifice some repeatability for variation and an ability to improvise at each step. Sometimes my recipes flop but since each one is an experiment, I just take note about what failed and go on. I figure this is the way brewing was done for centuries and I don't need to change. My view on this, as a long-time "unscientific brewer" is subtly different than Bruhner's. I think to some extent his writings make light of the careful ways that traditional cultures may have for controlling wort infection and the like, and tends to gloss over the role of deep, long-term experience in what was traditionally an art form much like poetry. These shortcomings may be acceptable given his audience (those just starting out), but it's worth noting up front. All in all, I think this is an important contribution to the area of brewing in this area. I may not agree with him on every point, but more voices help us all move forward.
Thirdly he provides a large number of recipes. These include molasses-based drinks, white sugar-based drinks, fermented fruit-based beverages, and the like. In general these track various other attempts at various beverages that I have seen, and many of his recipes are taken from old sources. These do not fit in well with standard contemporary brewing approaches which frown on sucrose sources and favor fructose instead, but when one is experienced (see paragraph above), one can still take them as inspiration and adapt them to whatever one wants to make (substituting honey for white sugar, for example). At the same time, I have had commercially produced molasses "beers" (i.e. brewed with molasses instead of malted grain) and they are quite pleasant. Consequently I have to assume that most of the recipes would be just fine how they are. I would however note that it is likely that "sugar" in many of the old recipes was the sort of dried cane syrup one can find at Mexican grocers than the white sugar we use today. This area could be fertile ground for future research.
However, whatever faults this book has, it's still a fascinating journey into another world in terms of brewing. I enjoyed it and I see why it was highly recommended to me. It is a solid contribution to this field and I'd highly recommend it to others.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
So many recipes!
My husband is gluten free and I have to avoid hops and barley malt so finding recipes with none of these ingredients is great. Read more
Published 1 month ago by katrina
3.0 out of 5 stars
book rating for sacred herbal beer
Not what I expected.....lots of historical text....have to search for recipes.....very unique recipes listed.... Read more
Published 1 month ago by cannabina
5.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting
I have not yet had the opportunity to put into practice any of the information given, ordered for future reference and my library, but looks like I will get good use out of it.
Published 2 months ago by pamela romeo
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fabulous read for the history, for the herbology and for the brewing.
I absolutely loved this book. I was fascinated by the history and tradition of these brews not only for the sacred but for the role these brews played in diet and health. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Conni
5.0 out of 5 stars
Some really interesting information on brewing herbs
This book literally has it all when it comes to ancient beers. It goes into great detail about the different beer brewed by the indigenous people from all around the world. Read more
Published 4 months ago by MGrant
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting read for home brewers
This book contains a vast knowledge of old brewing recipes an many diff ingredients used throughout history to make beer an there diff effects on the beer an the human body
Published 5 months ago by travis bingham
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very good, a few minor things
In terms of compiling the history of non-hopped gruits, herbal beers, etc, this book is excellent. It also has many recipes and brewing tips. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Jonathan
1.0 out of 5 stars
Not What I Expected
If you like to read about old rituals, this is the book for you. If you are looking for a book on beers and recipes with herbal remedies and the information regarding what they... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Barry
5.0 out of 5 stars
pretty awesome
I should first mention that I have never made any of the recipes, not that I don't want to, just don't have the time. Read more
Published 7 months ago by A. Yates
3.0 out of 5 stars
Definitely full of obscure information, some great, some not so great.
Wow, this book is wild. The essential premise is: at this time Western culture consumes only two alcoholic beverages; all beer is a watery solution of fermented barley and hops,... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Christopher Doherty
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Listmania!
|
|
