Herbiery
Nick Ryan with his inaugural wit and lager.
At a time when hoppy beers dominate the craft beer scene, a new Madison beer company is launching a line of beers made without them.
Herbiery Brewing hopes to find a niche in the competitive local beer market with its line of hop-free herbal brews.
Nick Ryan, 29, of Madison, says he likes hops — yet he sees room for something different. “Hops can bring nice subtle flavor, but they can also overpower other things in beer,” says Ryan. “I take them out of the equation completely.”
Ryan has been working on making beer with herbs for the past three years. He’s identified which herbs have the greatest potential through his own homebrewing. This week, the first of two herbal beers will appear in several local liquor stores and tap houses.
Herbiery’s Great Sage Witbeer is a take on the Belgian wit. This style is light-bodied, with a hazy golden straw color and traditionally made with wheat, oats and spiced with coriander and citrus peel. Ryan’s take on the wit uses toasted coriander along with red wheat and grapefruit peel which combine for a touch of bitterness. He replaces hops with sage — that gives the beer a woody, piney aroma and flavor.
A second Herbiery brew, Zingibeer, is a ginger-spiced light American lager made with wheat, oats, maize, rice and barley. Instead of hops, Ryan adds about 10 pounds of crushed ginger at three points during the boil. His goal is to keep the ginger aroma and flavor subtle, so it doesn’t overwhelm the light lager. Ginger is a challenging spice for brewers to use. While it can supply everything from spicy heat to fruity sweetness, a little goes a long way for the palates of most beer drinkers.
Both of the Herbiery’s introductory brews are very approachable. What stands out with Great Sage is the woody and piney aroma from the sage and cardamom. The witbeer character is there, but it’s light and in the background. The Zingibeer is also light-bodied and effervescent, with ginger more in the aroma than in flavor until the beer’s finish, as it warms to room temperature. Both beers come in around 4 percent ABV and are being released in six-packs of 12-ounce cans for around $10.
Ryan is getting his start by contract brewing 15-barrel batches with Ale Asylum and then self distributing. That means at least initially his beers may be a little tough to find. Herbiery beer will be on tap at Growlers to Go-Go, 2927 E. Washington Ave., on Aug. 16 beginning at noon. From 6:30-8:30 p.m. Ryan will be on hand to talk with customers.
Right now, he’s working to find more homes for Great Sage and Zingibeer. He hopes to someday have his own taproom or brewery, but for now he’s focused on recipe development, brand creation and marketing.
These first two beers are made with herbs that have not been locally grown, Ryan hopes that will change: “It’s hard to find them at the scale I need them, but I’m making that a priority in the future.”
Ryan has more ideas too but he’s waiting to see how his initial beers are received. This fall he’s planning a chia honey lager with cinnamon, cloves, ginger, cardamom, black pepper and honey; and a golden milk oatmeal stout made with coconut milk infused with turmeric, cardamom and cinnamon. For winter he’s developing a maple saison made with syrup and spruce tips.
Herb-based beers are unusual but may hold great appeal for some drinkers. Culinary enthusiasts are especially interested in the greatly expanded possibilities for aroma and flavor in herbal beers — and that opens up countless pairing opportunities.
Ryan also wants to make collaboration beers with local brewers known for making hoppy beers, making companion beers by substituting an herb or spice for hops, then offering drinkers a side-by-side comparison.
Brewing beer with herbs goes back centuries. The gruit style dates back to Medieval times before hops were commonplace in the brewhouse. Gruits are made with such herbs and spices as sweet gale, mugwort, yarrow and heather.
Ryan is not alone in his interest in brewing with herbs. Craft brewers nationally and internationally are experimenting with both wild and kitchen-garden herbs. Dogfish Head may have kicked off the trend with its Ancient Ale. Forbidden Root of Chicago is a herb-based brewery and gastropub.
Ryan grew up near Stevens Point. After brief stints in Minnesota, Alaska and New Jersey, he became interested in herbalism and homebrewing, influenced particularly by the book Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers by Stephen Harrod Buhner. He moved to Madison in 2017 in part because of family, but also because of the city’s bustling craft beer scene. “Madison treats beer differently than other cities I’ve lived in. It’s open and interested in new forms of it,” says Ryan.
And while hops seem to be a big part of what local drinkers are looking for, Ryan says there is room for alternatives. “I’m offering something for people here on the edges, those who drink wine, cider and cocktails. Some of them do that because they don’t like beer and a lot of that comes from the hop flavor,” he says. “I’m not against hops. I do like hoppy beers. This is something that can exist alongside them.”
