So me and my buddy want to brew a Belgian Abbey/Dark Strong ale but want to jazz it up. I thought maybe adding spices reminiscent of old churches would be fun. I'm just trying to figure out what those could be. Any thoughts? I don't want to go the frankincense/myrrh route since that's too Christmas-y and generic. I was thinking fennel, maybe clove. Kinda looking for sweet, musty like a decrepit church thing. I'm sure some fellow Catholic school survivors can help out. Thanks in advance
My thoughts are to somehow use palm, or honey like candle wax, or to combine herbs and spices to come up with a taste that is like what incense smells like. But I don't have a clue to be able to tell you what spices to use.
My memories of Catholic school and church were pretty clean. Frankincense comes to mind but I'm not sure that's edible. Other than that I don't think any particular spices say "church" to me at all -- sorry but true.
"...musty like a decrepit church thing." The first thought that popped into my mind was Brett. Maybe use a yeast like Wyeast 3787 for primary fermentation and select a Brett strain like Wyeast 5112 (Brett Brux) for a secondary fermentation? Cheers!
Find the oldest smelliest book you have and toss it in at the end of the boil. You could do a 20 minute book-stand @ 180F
The first thought that came to me was constant comment tea, which is what I recall from the after church social periods from the 1970s. You wanted old church, and all my church memories are old. I believe that is orange and clove. Brew a strong batch of tea and add to the end of the boil. Or just use some orange peel and hope the yeast develops something like clove flavor.
