Bergamot/Earl Grey beer idea

[brewerTristan]

I very much enjoy both tea and beer, which both happen to be British specialties. Accordingly, I've been thinking about making a beer brewed with either bergamot extract/oil or earl grey tea. I have a two ideas about how to go about this, but not sure which would be most beneficial. I'm also not sure about what base beer would go best. Here are my ideas:

-use bergamot extract/oil and add to the secondary or bottle/keg (not sure about oil for head retention issues)
-steep earl grey tea in mash or at flame out (I imagine boiling would have ill effects)
-british pale ale as a base beer
-wit as a base beer replacing the orange peel with bergamot

Any other ideas?

[dmtaylor]

I did an Earl Grey tea porter a few years ago, as I love Earl Grey tea as well. But looking back, it ended up horrible, wretched, bad idea, I won't ever try it again. Although, I'll give you my experience anyway, in case you want to try it, and make a few tweaks so that it goes better for you.

What I did was I added 4 teabags in secondary for half a batch, 2.5 gallons. Just threw them in like dry hops, and let soak for a week before bottling. The result was EXTREMELY bergamotty (hey, I made a new word!) and astringent. I used too much and probably should have skipped the tea and just used the oil.

If I did it again, I think the witbier idea as a base beer is a good one. It wasn't a great match for a porter. So make the wit, skip the tea, just use the oil of bergamot, probably only a couple of drops will do the trick for the whole batch. Add it in secondary or at bottling time. I don't think it will affect head retention too badly, although I can't be sure. My tea beer was very carbonated, too much, in fact, but if you use oil of bergamot, obviously the result for you would be different than mine.

Good luck. Let us know how it turns out, if you do it.

[brewerTristan]

Hey thanks for the info. I think tea leaves are, in general, bad news for beer. If you think about letting a tea bag steep in a cup of tea for a week and what that would taste like, it's probably similar for steeping/dry tea bagging (ha!) in beer. I found this site that has a bunch of good looking extracts including a bergamot one:

http://www.silvercloudestates.com/viewp ... spx?id=108

I'll probably give the wit beer a try after Christmas. I still like the idea of using a British base beer for the association. Anybody think a mildly hopped British pale ale would be appropriate? I've never tried a pale mild, but perhaps that could work too.

[dmtaylor]

I think a British ale would also be a nice match, assuming of course you can get the amount of bergamot nailed so it's not too strong. Go for subtle, not strong.

[brewerTristan]

Yeah I'll probably run a few trials on some regular bottles of a standard ale and then multiply what tastes good for the volume I need. I'll probably keg this beer, so I'll add the extract to the keg.

[Nate Diggler]

Yeah, a Light Mild or English Blond ale would be good, if not a Wit.

You can get Bergamot Peel, but its really $$$$$... if you get a hold of some, maybe use it like you would Bitter or Sweet Curacao?

[brewerTristan]

Yeah, a Light Mild or English Blond ale would be good, if not a Wit.

You can get Bergamot Peel, but its really $$$$$... if you get a hold of some, maybe use it like you would Bitter or Sweet Curacao?

I've never had a light mild. Can anybody describe the flavour? I guess I could just have a look at the BJCP description. The extract looks like a good option and is somewhat affordable ($11/4 oz). If I got peel, would I just throw it in at the end of the boil?

[Nate Diggler]

Yeah, I'd use the peel just like making a Wit... very end of the boil/flame-out.

I've never had a light mild. Can anybody describe the flavour? I guess I could just have a look at the BJCP description. The extract looks like a good option and is somewhat affordable ($11/4 oz). If I got peel, would I just throw it in at the end of the boil?