Bittering Alternatives to Hops

I don't know what a good substitute to hops would be. In another type of beverage that we do not discuss here at BeerAdvocate, I offset some of the sweetness from honey with the bitterness from orange peel. However, that type of bitterness gets off-putting fairly quickly, so I could not use a lot. I still had a very sweet non-beer beverage. I guess you could look to gruit herbs. I've never used them, but if they were great replacements for hops, I expect we would see more gruits than we do. Perhaps for an RIS, some bitterness could come from coffee? Sorry to not be more helpful.

Can you elaborate on removing hops from your diet? Sounds mysterious.

 

I have brewed several gruit ales. The gruit herbs are somewhat bitter but not as much and not as pleasant as hops. If you want to give it a try then start with substituting sweet gale for hops ounce for ounce. Yarrow is more bitter and also tart so use it sparingly maybe a quarter as much as you would use hops. I have not played much with rosemary but my instincts tell me to use tiny amounts like just a sprinkle. I love mugwort but it is strong along the lines of yarrow and more herbal in flavor like oregano or thyme. Wormwood is extremely bitter and probably should not be used at all. Best of luck to you.

 

New Belgium's spring seasonal, springboard, used wormwood in the original recipe. looks like this was part of recent folly packs but it doesn't sound like it's the same recipe. They also brew a gruit with wormwood and some other herbs: horehound, bog myrtle, yarrow and elderflowers.

I've had the mikkeller spontanelderflower, that was a beautiful beer. not sure elderflowers would work in a stout though.

 

Heather is the herb that I have heard most used to replace hops. I've read that it was used to make beer in Scandinavia before hops were introduced and I've had a couple of very good "viking beer" gruits.

I don't have any experience homebrewing them, but here is a link to an article that has a recipe.

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/aug/03/viking-heather-beer-recipe

Good luck!

 

I know spruce tips are sometimes used. I am not sure if they are a full replacement or an enhancement though.

 

I've never done it, but have heard dandelion can be used.

 

Heather has no bitterness and very little flavor if boiled. Not sure about the others. I'm personally not big into the spruce thing and might never experiment with that (if I liked it then I surely would have by now).