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Braggot (braggot, bragget) – something between a classic beer and mead – a mixture of malt and honey wort, hopped before fermentation. Historically, the proportions of malt and honey in the drink are close to 50/50, but this is not a prerequisite.
History
Intoxicated honey (called “medovukha” in Russia) is one of the oldest fermented drinks that have come down to us, and “beer” braggot is only a little younger than it. The first mention of malted barley with honey is found in Sumerian texts of the XNUMXth century BC. Traces of similar drinks have been found during archaeological excavations of ancient Egyptian and Greek cities, and malted honey was also known to the tribes of the Picts and the Celts.
In medieval Europe, braggot gave way to ale and gruit, but after the Renaissance, its revival began. The drink was especially popular in Ireland and Wales. The name braggot itself comes from the Celtic word “brag”, meaning “sprout, shoot”, and directly indicates the content of plant components in the drink. Another version of the origin of the name is from the Welsh words “brag” and “got”, meaning “malt” and “honeycomb”, respectively.
Braggoth never completely disappeared, just occasionally faded into the shadows. Today, this drink is included in the assortment of many microbreweries and mead breweries, often appears in the lists of seasonal offers.
Sommeliers and specialized experts still cannot decide what Braggot is: beer with honey or hoppy honey with malt.
Braggot production technology
To get braggot, it is not enough to brew beer and honey separately, and then mix them in the desired proportion. Honey is added directly to the must at the initial stages of production, allowing the mixture to ferment and infuse for 8-12 months.
It is customary to use only local natural honey to make braggot, so even from one manufacturer, “honey beer” turns out to be very different, depending on what is now at the peak of flowering.
There is no single established technology – honey can be added at any stage, even mixed with hops and malt even before fermentation, but most brewers believe that in this case the drink will turn out to be less sweet and aromatic.
Hops are optional and can be replaced with bitter herbs, as in gruit.
Also, a variety of flavors and spices are often added to the braggot, for example, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, pepper, fruit essences, chocolate, and caramel may also be included.
Features
It is impossible to make a universal description of braggot – there are as many types of it as beer, or even more. The color of the drink varies from straw to dark brown, the taste is from sugary-sweet to sour-tart, the strength is from 6.5% to 14% vol. Hop bitterness can either drown out other notes or not be felt at all, the drink itself can be quiet and sparkling.
The only common characteristic is that the malt profile always dominates in Braggot and honey notes are clearly distinguishable. Very often in the bouquet you can catch the tones of biscuit, freshly baked bread, caramel, but fried toast or burnt notes are rare.
Famous brands: Marionberry Braggot от Rogue Ales & Spirits (11.7%), Brother Adam’s Bragget Honey Ale от Atlantic Brewing Co. (10.5%), Samuel Adams Honey Queen от Boston Beer Co. (7.5%).
How to drink braggot
The culture of drinking braggot differs little from beer drinking – it is served in the same half-liter mugs and drunk in bars or at home, in good company or alone.
The only difference is that it is better to choose pastries or desserts as a snack for braggot, as a sweet drink does not go well with spicy or meat snacks.
homemade braggot recipe
Only one of hundreds of possible recipes is given here, since there is no single technology for making braggot.
Ingredients:
- light malt – 4,5 kg;
- Munich malt – 2,2 kg;
- caramel malt – 220 g;
- flower honey – 1,8 kg;
- hops (not very aromatic, for example, Hallertau Mittelfruh) – 28 g;
- water – 40 l;
- ale brewer’s yeast (top fermentation) – for 35 liters of wort.
Technology of preparation
- Sugar malt: mix, add water, heat to 65 °C, maintain the indicated temperature for 75 minutes.
- Strain the wort from the malt, bring to a boil. Boil for 60 minutes, then add half of the hops, after 10 minutes of boiling, add the remaining hops. Boil for another 5 minutes and remove from heat.
- Cool, add yeast, put under a water seal.
- After 7 days of fermentation, add honey, leave until the end of fermentation.
- Strain the braggot from the yeast sediment, pour into bottles, close tightly. Leave in the refrigerator or cellar for at least 2 months.
