Nettle Beer: part 1

Tidying some cupboards I found a bottle of Nettle Beer from last years brewing. That was an unexpected nice surprise for being domesticated. I chilled it down and cracked it open yesterday. It was still fizzy and pleasantly dry. Nettle beer can be ready to drink within 7 days of brewing at which point I find it fairly sweet like a tasty Alcopop. The longer it is left the dryer it becomes. Because it went down a bit too easily none of the batches lasted more than about 6 weeks, so I didn’t know what to expect from a year old bottle.

The flavour of nettle beer is a little resinous and very refreshing. It doesn’t taste bitter the way lager or true beer does, so I suspect sparkling wine would be more apt as a name. I was having ‘pasta in bianco’ with sautéed garlic and Swiss chard for dinner and the nettle beer was very complimentary to that.

Most places in Britain the nettles are flowering and that means they are too old for consumption at the moment. Older leaves contain inorganic crystals that can irritate the kidneys so only younger leaves should be used for eating or brewing.

I missed brewing nettle beer earlier this year but a couple of weeks ago I weeded the hedge and there is a fresh crop of leaves developing. Oh yes. So get out in your garden or make your friend happy by pulling up their nettles and you have a couple of weeks to get organised for nettle beer.