After several years of experimenting with floral farmhouse ales and even a few sour ales and ancient brews, I wanted to finally make a truly wild beer with hyper-local ingredients. No stranger to foraging herbs for my beers, I did my research and created a mixture that would honour the historical gruit recipe. What's more, I decided to brew this on International Gruit Day, celebrating Nature's herbal gifts and all the historical brews that came before it. I used dry Yarrow (Achilea millefolium) and Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) for bittering and antiseptic, with a late addition of Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria) leaves, then finally added fresh Linden (Tilia × europaea) and Yarrow flowers at flameout for a burst of aroma.

For fermentation I used a wild yeast culture (HWY-001) that I had personally collected in the Bavarian Alps from elderflowers, and meticulously propagated for over half a year. This high-attenuation strain ferments cleanly, leaving a smooth mouthfeel despite the lack of residual sugars, while also bringing its own floral flavors and even a bit of funk.

Once the fermentation was nearly done, I added a blend of flowers and wildflower honey to the fermentation vessel for a bump in sugars along with a final floral burst of Linden, Wild Thyme (Thymus serpyllum), Wild Oregano (Origanum vulgare), and Wild Rose (Rosa canina). Made with historical Frankonian malt from Rhön Malz, the resulting beer pours a bright golden color, with intense floral aromatics reminiscent of spring meadows where everything is in bloom. With an underlying honey flavor it's smooth even if slightly tart, making it especially refreshing on warm summer days.