Beer Forum

I won some Dried Licorice root and Indian Sarsaparilla in a raffle. Any ideas as to what sorts of beers may be good (I suppose that a stout or porter might be good with the licorice - in moderation of course)? Or will I be making root beer?

I can't speak of the sarsaparilla, but I've used dried licorice root in a few stouts. It isn't going to give you that 'black licorice' flavor you might think, if anything it contributes a solid sweetness.

If you want to play with the black licorice flavor, the spice you want to hunt down is Star Anise. Use in moderation.

I've always always wondered how sarsparilla and wintergreen would work in the right beer. they're both ingredients that I plan on experimenting with at some point

Evan Burck wrote:I've always always wondered how sarsparilla and wintergreen would work in the right beer. they're both ingredients that I plan on experimenting with at some point

Not quite the same, but The Bruery's Saison Rue is brewed with spearmint in the kettle.

In my experience, a small fraction of brewer's licorice (hard candy stick form) can work well in big stouts and porters.

One of my college roommates brewed a root stout with licorice, sarsaparilla, sassafras, and ginseng. It was great, very earthy and rich in subtle flavors. You'll have to pick your own sassafras though, I don't think you can buy it because it supposedly causes cancer, like every other effing thing on this planet. But if it grows near you, it's really easy to identify and has an excellent flavor profile and probably won't give you cancer.

ApresSkiBrewer wrote:I can't speak of the sarsaparilla, but I've used dried licorice root in a few stouts. It isn't going to give you that 'black licorice' flavor you might think, if anything it contributes a solid sweetness.

If you want to play with the black licorice flavor, the spice you want to hunt down is Star Anise. Use in moderation.

Any advice on how much licorice root and star anise to use in a 5 gal batch so that the flavor is barely detectable?

whiterussian wrote:

ApresSkiBrewer wrote:I can't speak of the sarsaparilla, but I've used dried licorice root in a few stouts. It isn't going to give you that 'black licorice' flavor you might think, if anything it contributes a solid sweetness.

If you want to play with the black licorice flavor, the spice you want to hunt down is Star Anise. Use in moderation.

Any advice on how much licorice root and star anise to use in a 5 gal batch so that the flavor is barely detectable?

take one "arm" off a star of anise. about that much

Evan Burck wrote:

whiterussian wrote:Any advice on how much licorice root and star anise to use in a 5 gal batch so that the flavor is barely detectable?

take one "arm" off a star of anise. about that much

Sorry, do you mean just use the one "arm" or use one star anise without the one "arm"?