After foraging in the woods of Southern Illinois with Scratch Brewing Company last fall, I found myself, well, once again foraging in the woods. This time, the locale was northern Wisconsin, and we were searching for blackberries.
After reading Scratch's seasonal homebrewing book, The Homebrewer's Almanac, I've been inspired to use more local, foraged ingredients in my homebrew. Luckily, my girlfriend's brother has spent the last few years studying and foraging plants native to northern WI. This summer, I spent time by his side as he showed me areas abundant with blackberries, raspberries, chokecherries, thimbleberries, sumac, dandelions, and wild carrot.
These blackberries were added in secondary fermentation to a homebrewed Brett Saison, 100% fermented with Brett C and chock full of Motueka hops. I can't wait to see how it turns out.
