What do you think about beer and alcohol??

[momma4fun]

I feel like we've finally embraced a total TF diet

EXCEPT for the beer and alcohol. I love beer and alcohol. My dp brews homemade beer and mead, and I love to make a nice whiskey cocktail or herbed ginny juice or a white russian (with RAW MILK, lol).

Is it THAT bad? Please don't tell me yes unless you follow with a convincing argument.

[covertlycrunchy]

Ok, I'm not all that TF just yet but if you go by the history of alcohol I would think it is pretty traditional! Beer is AT LEAST as old as ancient egypt(so 10,000 yrs), with wine, your looking at between 4,000 to 6,000 BC or so. Hard liquors are a bit more recent(last 500 yrs or so for most, but not all of them), but I like the Mark Twain quote the best:

"Moderation in all things - except moderation!" and "Too much of anything is bad, but too much whiskey is just enough!"

[Tcarwyn]

I agree, alcohol ferments are a traditional food....I dont know about distilled alcohol (but I still dont say no to a nice jack and ginger, )

Obviously, if it becomes an addiction, theres a different story...

Tanya

[425lisamarie]

I love me a good beer. I would not give up my apple ale!

[Taedareth]

If you make your own beer and cheese, you can feel like a medieval farm wife

[MommaMoo]

I've been a NT fanatic for a few years now, but I could never get behind Sally Fallon's prohibition of alcohol. I like beer and wine. I sometimes have an organic beer in the evening, and I don't understand why it's supposed to be such an awful thing to do.

[chloeM]

alcohol is very traditional, heck Jesus drank it.

[spughy]

I think alcohol is JUST GREAT. Kefir produces alcohol, how could it be bad?

Seriously, I think naturally brewed wine, beer, cider and mead is totally traditional food and ought to be enjoyed. Frequently.

I have a jug of mead fermenting away happily in my pantry at the moment. bubble bubble bubble....

[momma4fun]

YAY!

[cjr]

How do you make your mead? I have access to lots and lots of raw honey and I would love to make honey mead.

[saratc]

I honestly don't think Sally Fallon discourages beer and alcohol. She mentions in her lectures and books that they are traditionally lacto-fermented foods. But she does say they should be consumed in moderation, which IMO they should. They had Sandor Katz, author of Wild Fermentation at last year's Wise Traditions conference. Wild Fermentation as a matter of fact has a mead recipe in it and it sounds quite yummy!

Since Wild Fermentation encourages using wild yeast, the recipe has you set out honey water until it gets bubbly. I believe traditional recipes involve adding a type of brewing yeast to honey water. I think the easiest way would probably be to add a bit of whey or water kefir grains and let it brew while tasting periodically. Just make sure the water kefir grains are extra grains you don't plan to reuse since honey retards bacterial activity and can damage the grains.

[tinuviel_k]

Originally Posted by cjr

How do you make your mead? I have access to lots and lots of raw honey and I would love to make honey mead.

Here is a wonderful site dedicated to meadmaking. I have gotten lots of great info from them, and have several batches of various meads going right now.

http://www.gotmead.com/
And here is their "Newebee" guide to mead: http://www.gotmead.com/index.php?opt...=108&Itemid=14


I think that wine and beer fit very well into a traditional diet. People have been brewing alcoholic beverages for tens of thousands of years.

[Ruthla]

What on earth could be more traditional than home-brewed beer?

Beer is to be enjoyed in moderation, unless you have some kind of medical reason to avoid alcohol (liver problems, alcoholism, etc.)

[spughy]

Originally Posted by cjr

How do you make your mead? I have access to lots and lots of raw honey and I would love to make honey mead.

I am using the method described in Wild Fermentation. Basically, mix honey and water, let it sit out on the counter covered with a cloth until it gets bubbly, then put it in a jug of some sort that has some mechanism to let gas escape but no air in. (I use a balloon over the mouth of the bottle ) Although I have to say I think my wild yeasts are not nearly as enthusiastic as his wild yeasts, because it took a couple of weeks for my mead to get bubbly as opposed to the 3-5 days described in the book, and it is certainly not fermenting QUICKLY in the pantry. But, I will let it take however long it needs.

[425lisamarie]

Originally Posted by spughy

I am using the method described in Wild Fermentation. Basically, mix honey and water, let it sit out on the counter covered with a cloth until it gets bubbly, then put it in a jug of some sort that has some mechanism to let gas escape but no air in. (I use a balloon over the mouth of the bottle ) Although I have to say I think my wild yeasts are not nearly as enthusiastic as his wild yeasts, because it took a couple of weeks for my mead to get bubbly as opposed to the 3-5 days described in the book, and it is certainly not fermenting QUICKLY in the pantry. But, I will let it take however long it needs.

So what does it taste like? I have never brewed at home, but i wouldn't mind trying. I love a good beer but it's so hard to find!

[spughy]

Originally Posted by 425lisamarie

So what does it taste like? I have never brewed at home, but i wouldn't mind trying. I love a good beer but it's so hard to find!

Well, so far it just tastes like vaguely alcoholic honey . It's my first attempt and it's not far enough along yet to really be called mead.

My friend Amy homebrews beer and it's awesome. She does a blackberry ale during blackberry season that's to die for. Beer takes less time than mead, I think - why don't you grab yourself a carboy and give it a whirl?

[cupofjojo]

Got mead is a great site so is:
http://www.honeywine.com/

We brew beer and wine, and are going to soon do a mead to give it a whirl.

You can even get all organic ingredients. We drink our brew often enough that we don't need preservatives for the wine.

It is a fun process and a great way to have friends over for a few hours.

[Chicharronita]

I thought that S.F. said to avoid conventionally-made beer, and wine from non-organic grapes? I'm pretty sure that the WAPF Buying Guide has some recommendations for both.

I go through periods where I drink wine with meals, and then I don't for a while.

I much prefer spirits like whiskey and gin, especially the latter for real martinis. It's so fun to go to parties and quote Dorothy Parker on the latter.