Anyone use Shamrock in beer?

[Superdave]

Thinking about brewing a quick Irish style beer, I figure that if I pushed things just a little, it could be consumed on St. Patrick's Day.

Just for fun, we were thinking of dumping a bunch of green food color in the bottling bucket, and I thought it would be cool to throw some shamrocks in the boil.

I have no idea how much or what kind of taste that might impart or how to compensate with hops. I remember doing some looking last year and never found much info.

Thoughts?

Anyone with a quick 'n easy recipe for an Irish style beer?

 

[Big10Seaner]

They are edible, but aren't supposed to taste very good.

 

[Danek]

Oh God, no, they're pretty foul. They taste more like a plant than a food, if that makes any sense. I think they'd be strong enough to contribute a noticeable flavor, and I don't think it would be a good flavor either. If you want to honor St Paddy, you'd be better off chucking a potato in the boil.

 

[Superdave]

Hmmm...

Maybe I'd just throw in *a* shamrock, just to say it was brewed with it.

Shoot. I was thinking maybe a partial substitution for some hops or something.

 

[Danek]

Yeah, it's an appealing idea, though I don't think boiling would help. Maybe you could dry-hop with "a unique blend of cascade hops and shamrock", say, and just make sure the mixture is 99% hops?

Or just add irish moss.

 

[Superdave]

Irish Moss, duh! Awesome!

If I throw in just a couple shamrocks, then it'll be "Brewed with the finest barley, hops, Irish Moss, and a touch of shamrocks, for good luck" or something like that.

 

[KingBrianI]

How about adding some clover honey? Shamrocks are clover you know.

 

[ericd]

Shamrock flowers?

 

[Edcculus]

I usually dont like to brew with grass...

It would be cool to brew up an Irish red, then serve with a shamrock.

 

[Superdave]

I usually dont like to brew with grass...

It would be cool to brew up an Irish red, then serve with a shamrock.

Well, the flavor of some hops is described as "grassy"...

But I guess it doesn't matter much for a year or so, 'cause we decided we didn't have the time to brew it yesterday, and I figured that was pretty much the deadline for March 14 (the day of our local st pat's celebration).

 

[RICLARK]

Just for fun, we were thinking of dumping a bunch of green food color in the bottling bucket

To Do this you got to have a very light colored Bmc ish looking beer. If its a darker beer it wont be green.