Bottled our henbane ale yesterday! We brewed it on the autumnal equinox, and now that it’s bottled, it’ll be left to after-ferment till probably Midwinter or so, although we did break out a few bottles for Samhain 🙃
I drew the label by hand, and I’m hoping to have some printed off for the remaining 60 bottles.
It tastes *really* good — we added some figs for more flavor. Henbane beer is a shade of red, which recalls the red-colored ales that were imbibed by those present at the infamous and historical witches’ sabbats.
A little bit of my favorite history and folklore on henbane:
• Psychoactive, as well as an aphrodisiac. It’s one of my favorite entheogens
• It was used to flavor beer before hops in some parts of Western Europe
• Suggested to have been used by Vikings (specifically, berserkers) before battle
• In Nordic paganism, it was sacred to Donar/Thor, and was grown in gardens protected by Wodan/Odin
• In Hellenic paganism, it was sacred to Apollo, and was believed to have been used by the Oracle of Delphi to induce trances
• On that same note, it was also sacred to Hekate, Queen of the Witches and Mother of Poisons
• It was one of the classic ingredients in the notorious witches’ flying ointments
