Fermenting a Beverage Representing an Environment

Over the years I’ve developed a sort of methodology for creating brews
based on specific locations. It works for whole environments such as “the
Mountains” or smaller ones like “Gloria’s Goat Farm in the Mountains.”
I basically do three things:
1. Survey the area.
2. Establish the flavor characteristics.
3. Determine the “essence” of a place.
Surveying is pretty easy: Take hikes and observe what is growing and
living in that area. You can observe, take notes and lots of photos, then,
once you’re back home, research what you found through books, online
plant identification groups, websites, and so on. There are usually a lot of
such plant identification groups or photos of local flora (with names) on
social media sites such as Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and so on. Once
you have the Latin name of a plant, it’s much easier to research it. Always
make sure it’s okay to collect plants at your site, and always check whether
a plant is protected or rare; in such cases it’s much better to work with local
native plant nurseries than to collect from the wild.
The more hikes you take, the better. In the beginning you may notice all
the minute details of a place and which specific plants, mushrooms, trees,
and herbs grow there. After a while, and once you know the place well,
you’ll develop a sense of its base flavors. For example, the closest forest to
my home is mainly composed of interesting bitter or aromatic plants and
trees such as California sagebrush, mugwort, horehound, black sage, yerba
santa, and alder and willow trees, but it has interesting fruity components
as well, with feral fig trees and Mexican elder (elderberries) nearby.
Thinking about the type of drinks you want to create may add some
focus to your quest. For beer, I’m very interested in those bitter and aro-
matic herbs, plants, or barks. For wines or sodas, I focus more on the fruits,
berries, and aromatic plants. You can create several different types of drinks
from the same location, each one being a different creative interpretation of
that environment.
Once you’re surveyed the area and established its main flavor character-
istics, here comes the magic.
The next step in grasping the essence of an environment is a bit unusual:
Forget everything you’ve learned—let it go and clear your mind . . .
Be Zen! Stop the constant flow of thoughts in your head, forget the lists
of plants you’ve made, and put the camera aside. Sit down and just be there.
Become one with the environment; let it speak to all your senses: sight,

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hearing, touch, smell, and taste. It’s very much like meditation. Not only is
the experience extremely therapeutic in our modern world, but letting the
environment talk to you is probably the best way to feel and comprehend
its intrinsic qualities and sacredness. It’s extremely spiritual. Then, and only
then, can you start the process of interpretation and creation through
drinks.
By letting a place talk to you, you’ll pick up the subtle notes, the intricate
blends or accents you missed before. That hint of sweetness you smell may
tell you to add a bit of those manzanita berries or a touch of wild fennel to
your brew.
My friend Gloria has a goat farm in the local mountains, and it’s all
about pinyon pine with sagebrush accents. In the same location or nearby,
you can find white fir, manzanita berries, elderberries, scrub oaks, coffee
berries, Mormon tea (Ephedra californica, not the plant from Asia used for
weight loss), California juniper berries, and yarrow. Within a 10-minute
drive, mugwort is also abundant.
Overall, though, the essence is definitely pinyon pine and sagebrush.
Pinyon is probably my favorite pine. Munch on a needle and you get very
interesting tangerine/lemon/pine accents. In my opinion, the best flavors
are actually in the branches, so I usually brew with whole small branches
and not just needles.
Locally, mountain colors are blue (from the sky) then green and tan. The
greens are quite muted. The tans come from various desert plants, while
dirt and rocks can turn a muddy red in some locations.
I experience a lot of emotions in the mountains, including a sense of
freedom and space. I seem to be floating above it all. If I had to convey
those feelings and colors into a beer, I would make it light, not too alco-
holic, and give it amber or reddish colors. The bitterness would come from
yarrow, and undertones would come from pinyon pine or white fir. I might
add some California sycamore bark to lend it some reddish accents. To add
some lemony flavors, I would use some of the bigberry manzanita (Arcto-
staphylos glauca) available on the property; the dry skins of the berries have
some definite sour qualities.
Of course, the beer would change with the seasons. In summer I would
make it more floral with some elderflowers and add some young California
juniper berries for extra zing. In winter, when the pines have less flavor, I
might add some local oak bark and older white fir needles, which, for me,
convey a sense of maturity and timelessness.
The recipe you create and how you mix the ingredients are part of inter-
preting the essence of place. It’s really something personal, and there is
nothing wrong if you add fruits, spices, and other flavorful herbs, barks, or

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Local forest: bitter (mugwort, horehound, alder, willow, sagebrush). Wise and complex (oak). Sweetness
(figs, elderberries). Decomposing soil, fall leaves, mushrooms. Hints of fennel. Humid, dark, trails, streams.
Green flavors (grass, chickweed, miner’s lettuce). Solitude, birds, cold (winter).

146 The Wildcrafting Brewer

My local mountains: pines (smell), lemon (pine
needles), tangerine (white fir), hints of sweetness
(manzanita and other mild-tasting wild berries), bit-
ter (yarrow and mugwort). Space, sky, fresh air, clean
water, snow, cold, wildness, bears, mountain lions.
Green and blue. Sense of freedom, awe, escape. Fires.
Chaparral: sages and aromatic plants. Bitter
(California sagebrush, yerba santa), sweet (currant,
prickly pears, elderberries), sour and lemony (sumac
berries). Spicy (black mustard). Dry, prickly (cactuses
and yuccas). Insects, birds, flowers, coyotes, rattle-
snakes. Blue, tan, yellow. Survival, drought.

Desert: aromatics (various sages), pine and lemon flavors (juniper berries). Prickly (cactuses). Hot, dry,
spiritual. Death, beauty, rocks, sand, space, freedom, wind. Creosote bush (smell of rain in the desert).
Snakes, lizards, coyotes. Blue, brown, yellow. Harsh, salty. Flowers, beauty, renewal (spring).

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 plants to convey your own flavorful interpretation. When I make a fall
forest beer, I like to add a couple of candy cap mushrooms: Their flavors
give a special accent that, to me, expresses nicely the flavor profile of my
local forest.
If 20 people interpreted a place, they would end up with 20 different
drinks, but I think you would still find within each drink some true local
flavors. In the case of Gloria’s farm, it would be hard to move away from
using yarrow and pinyon pine.

CHOOSING A BASE FLAVOR

My personal approach is to start with a base flavor and work from there.
This works for beers but also for sodas, meads, cold infusions, teas, and
other drinks. It’s like making sure I have a solid foundation before I build a
house on top of it. The house may look beautiful at the end, but without
the foundation it could not be built.
Each location that you visit will have one base flavor, and sometimes
more than one. Gardens often have a much wider variety of edible or aro-
matic ingredients, so you may be able to create several drinks that represent
your garden by using different base flavors.
When I drive through local mountains, my base flavors can change every
20 minutes. At 8,000 feet (2,400 m) of elevation, I mostly have white fir,
ponderosa pine, coulter pine, and incense cedar. We also have interesting
plants and berries such as common mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris, not our
native one) and coffee berries. Going back down to 5,000 feet (1,525 m),
there are fields of yarrow, various oaks, elder trees, manzanita berries, and
wild currants.
In a car we’re not always aware of all the changes, but it’s very obvious if
you stop and take a walk.
It’s much better to start by defining smaller areas. Trying to make a drink
out of a large, generic area such as “the local mountains” would be difficult
given the wide biodiversity. My local mountain range is probably over
350,000 acres (142,000 ha) in area, with elevations ranging from 1,600 to
over 10,000 feet (500–3,050 m).
But you can easily stop anywhere, pick a specific place, and create a drink
out of it.
On Gloria’s farm, as I mentioned, pinyon pines and yarrows are my
base flavors. Yarrow is the main bittering base; pinyon pine comes after
that. If instead of making a beer I wanted to make a soda, I could just take
pinyon pine as my main base flavor and lemony manzanita as my second
base flavor. Yarrow would be an aromatic that I could use (or not) when
“building” my soda.

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 To make a beer, I take into account all that can be found locally. This
already gives me a lot of basic ingredients to play with.

Base Flavors (foundation)

Pinyon pine, white fir (pine flavors, tangerine)
Yarrow (bitter)

Other Possible Ingredients, Flavors, and Accents

Various pines (lemony flavors from needles), or lemons
Unripe manzanita berries during springtime (sour and tart)
Sweet manzanita berries (late summer and fall; these taste like apple)
Bigberry manzanita (lemony/sour)
Oak bark or wood chips (bitter but lots of character; can be roasted)
Mugwort (bitter and aromatic, can be found within 3 miles/5 km of
the property)
Elderflower (floral)
Mormon tea (pleasant, mild, and slightly bitter, with subtle hints
of mint)
Elderberries, coffee berries (fruity/sugary)
California juniper berries
Desert sage (Salvia dorrii)
And so on . . .

There are no real rules, and you don’t have to prove anything to anyone.
Let it be about fun, creativity, and flavors. Start with simple recipes and just
a few ingredients, if you want, then work your way toward more complex
blends. To save money, you can also brew small batches. I usually test new
ideas by brewing small quantities, usually 1⁄2 gallon (1.89 L).

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 WINTER IN THE FOREST BEER

This recipe is ever-changing with the seasons, but it’s a good example of a
winter forest beer. It looks very much as if I just took leaves, twigs, and herbs
directly from the forest floor itself, but every ingredient, even fall leaves, was
carefully chosen and contributes to the flavor profile. My first attempts at
creating such beers were a bit so-so, but they have vastly improved over time.
Presently, the end result is somewhere between a beer and a cider—a bit
sour, like some wild-yeast-fermented Belgium beers, but delicious. I don’t
think you could match this recipe with your own local forest, but maybe
this will inspire you to experiment with what your wild terroir has to offer.

1 gallon (3.78 L) water Procedure

0.2 ounce (6 g) mixed fall leaves
(cottonwood, alder, and willow)
0.2 ounce (6 g) forest grass—
regular grass growing in the forest
1 ounce (28 g) manzanita berries
0.1 ounce (3 g) California sagebrush
0.2 ounce (6 g) dried mugwort leaves
0.3 ounce (9 g) turkey tail mushrooms
11⁄4 pounds (567 g) dark brown sugar
3 large lemons
Commercial beer yeast or wild yeast starter
1. Combine all the ingredients except the lemons and
yeast. Cut and squeeze the lemons into the solution.
Bring to a boil in a large pot for 30 minutes. Remove
from the heat and cool to 70°F (21°C), then add the
yeast. When I’m using a wild yeast starter, I usually
use 1⁄2 to 3⁄4 cup (120–180 ml) of liquid.
2. Strain into the fermenter. Place the airlock or cover
with a paper towel or cloth and let it ferment for 10
days. Start counting when the fermentation is active
(this may take 2 to 3 days with a wild yeast starter).
3. Siphon into 16-ounce (500 ml) swing-top beer bot-
tles (you’ll need seven bottles) and prime each one
with 1⁄2 teaspoon (2 g) white or brown sugar for car-
bonation. Close the bottles and store in a place
that’s not too hot. The beer will be ready to drink in
3 to 4 weeks.

Would you like to explore the smell of the forest after

the rain, or the sweet fragrance of its rich soil? Maybe
add a small amount of candy cap mushroom or bitter
decomposing leaves (willow, alder). I like using turkey
tail mushrooms, not just for their bitter flavors but also
for their medicinal qualities.

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 L AT E - S P R I N G M O U N TA I N B E E R

Spring is a wonderful time to explore the local mountains. Once the winter
snow melts, everything seems to emerge from a long sleep, rejuvenated and
full of young and fresh flavors. From my perspective, it’s all about pine and
lemony sour accents. Even the young pine branches often have strong citrus-
like qualities. I can’t find lemons in these mountains, but unripe manzanita
berries are an excellent substitute. It’s a very simple recipe, but a good rep-
resentation of my local flavors. You can probably do something similar in
your area with other unripe berries and local pine, fir, or spruce tips.

11⁄2 gallons (5.7 L) water
0.4 ounce (11 g) dry mugwort
0.1 ounce (3 g) yarrow flower heads
13⁄4 pounds (794 g) brown sugar
2 cups (500 ml) crushed green
manzanita berries
1 small pinyon pine branch
Wild yeast from unripe pinyon pinecones (or
wild yeast starter)
Pinyon pinecones used as yeast starter.
Procedure (see Hot-and-Cold Brewing, page 87)
1. Add all the ingredients to a pot, aside from the
pinyon pinecones and branches, and boil for
30 minutes. Cool the solution to 70°F (21°C) and
pour it into a fermenting bucket equipped with an
airlock. At this point, I add two or three unripe
pinecones for yeast and a small pinyon pine branch
(cut the needles). Leave the pine ingredients in the
buckets until the fermentation is well started, usu-
ally 3 to 4 days, but you could leave them longer for
more pronounced pine flavors.
2. Once the fermentation is going well, let it ferment
for 9 days. Pour it into 16-ounce (500 ml)
swing-top beer bottles, and prime each bottle with
1⁄2 teaspoon (2 g) sugar. Close the bottles and store
in a place that’s not too hot. The beer will be ready
to drink in 3 to 4 weeks.

152 The Wildcrafting Brewer

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