Braggot
Braggot is a curious and poorly understood beverage with a dubious pedigree. That’s a fancy way of saying that we can’t really say where and when it was developed, and that people today often interpret the style in different ways. Let me try to add a little structure to this discussion, mostly by limiting the scope of what kind of drink we are talking about.
Braggot is best thought of as a type of mead, in that it contains a sizable proportion of honey — often at least half of the fermentables. But it is fair to consider braggot as related to beer since it has an ale-like component with a large proportion of fermentables derived from grain. Yet the proportions matter when defining a braggot — a beer with a small amount of honey is best thought of as a honey beer, while historical beverages involving grapes, honey, grain, spices, fruit, and other components are probably something else entirely. A braggot needs a sizable, noticeable honey contribution to differentiate itself from these other beverages.
Historical written references to something called braggot are found in Great Britain in Wales, Scotland, and England, often going back to the Middle Ages when “ale” referred to an unhopped grain beverage. Honey-based beverages and mead can be found around the world, with ancient or historical references to Greeks, Romans, Hindus, Norse, Celts, Moors, Poles, and others. We aren’t talking about this broader range of beverages, but rather the narrower definition originating in the British Isles.
The Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) categorizes braggot as Style M4A within the 2015 Mead Style Guidelines, which places it in the M4 Specialty Mead category along with historical mead and experimental mead. Note that these guidelines are currently undergoing revision and are expected to change within the next year, but that the concept of braggot will not change significantly.
History
Literary references to mead are ancient, including some involving grain. Going back before the Roman occupation of parts of the British Isles over two millennia ago, the Greek historian Pytheas surveyed Northwest Europe and made observations of the British Isles around 325 BC. He wrote of people in a northern land called Thule who drank a beverage of grain and honey. However, this was not called braggot, and there is no lineage with modern braggot. There is a lot of disagreement about what land was actually Thule, ranging from Greenland to Norway and every northern island in between. The writings of Pytheas did not survive to modern times and are only known through the writings of others.
Some of the earliest references to braggot can be found in English literature. Geoffrey Chaucer wrote of it in The Canterbury Tales in the late 1300s, specifically in The Miller’s Tale. Gayre, in Brewing Mead, writes that the church frowned upon the mixing of mead and ale to make bracket, bragget, or bragot at several times during the 800s. So, while the drink may date to antiquity, we know that it certainly was around in the 1300s and possibly earlier in the Dark Ages.
Horst Dornbusch, in Beer Styles from Around the World, writes that braggots were possibly Scottish, dating back to the time of the Picts, and were basically a primitive honey ale. These may have been flavored with botanicals, including the heather of the region (which is also a source of honey). Wales is also mentioned as a source, and both were being brewed as early as the times when Romans walked the British Isles.
Later recipes from the 1800s purport to describe recipes from the 1300s, but these must be viewed with some skepticism. Ken Schramm in The Compleat Meadmaker writes of recipes from the 1600s that describe adding honey to small beer before fermentation, as well as others that add honey to strong beers after fermentation. So, I don’t think we know how these used to be made, or there likely was no consistent method for producing braggot.
More modern examples of braggot may feature more of a base beer style, or use a distinctive honey. Brother Adams Bragget Ale from Atlantic Brewing Company in Bar Harbor, Maine, is one such (quite good) example, with a barleywine-like base. However, classic examples are probably better thought of as meads where a portion of the fermentables are replaced by ale wort, and then fermented like a strong ale.
Sensory Profile
To me, the most important element of a braggot is that it is recognizable as a mead — that is, having a noticeable fermented honey character. Different honey varieties bring their own aromatics and flavors, but those components must blend well with the grain or malt flavors in the braggot. The grain-derived flavors should also be apparent in the finished braggot, but not so much that it seems more like a beer than a mead. If the braggot has a declared variety of honey, then that character should be detectable. Wildflower-based braggots may just have a general floral character, but this varies by region and predominant nectar source.
Meads entered in competition must be declared with different sweetness, carbonation, and strength levels, so braggots can range from dry to sweet, still to sparking, and hydromel (session) to sack (strong). Many historical braggots tend to be still, sweet, and at least standard strength, which can make them seem barleywine-like. If a braggot has a declared beer base style, then the braggot should have some semblance of that beer (malt, hop, yeast, and other character). The base beer and honey choice can affect the color as well, since both malt and honey can have a wide range of colors.
Some modern interpretations take more of a beer-centric view, basically treating them as honey beers with more honey. The notion of base styles is introduced, and can be used to create modern variations, including different varieties of yeast including some interesting ones such as lager and Belgian ale yeast. These variations are valid stylistic choices, but remember that judges will always consider whether the beverage is more like a braggot or a honey beer. To be a braggot, the mead component needs to be recognizable.
Historical recipes may include spices, particularly if hops are not used. For competition purposes, a braggot should just contain honey and grain-derived fermentables. A spiced or fruited braggot is best entered as a mixed-style experimental mead. In these cases, the added components would also have to harmonize with the honey and grain components.
Braggots may or may not use hops, so the balance of the finished product may be different. Historically, hops were not used, but some modern examples and those that have a more featured base beer style may use them. The hops, if present, should enhance the honey experience and not cause the bitterness to clash with the sweetness.
Brewing Ingredients and Methods
Historically, there are several combinations of ingredients that can legitimately be called a braggot. Descriptions exist of mixing honey and ale (akin to sweetening beer, or perhaps making a beer cocktail), to combining (blending) mead and ale, and to combining wort and honey and fermenting together. I think all of these are valid approaches to making a braggot, depending on your goal. The latter two approaches are probably more in line with modern expectations.
I make a lot of beer and often have many meads in kegs, so I frequently make braggots by blending beer with mead. I have experimented with different base styles of beer, but usually pick something malty. English barleywine and Scotch ale are two reasonable choices that match well with the historical area. But I’ve also used sweet stout, doppelbock, dunkel, and Märzen as base beers. These are all malty styles with lower bitterness levels and less late-hop character.
Once you have a base beer in mind, you can pair a honey variety with it. If I’m blending, it is easy to test small samples of finished beer and finished mead to see how compatible the flavors are, and what a reasonable sweetness level is. In both methods, tasting how well the flavor of the honey and that of the grain go together is the key to a successful marriage. Beyond that, assessing the bitterness level of the beer with the sweetness level of the mead is important. Sometimes, you can achieve a compatible balance, but many times there is a bitter-sweet clash of flavors.
I try to look for compatible flavors when pairing honey with beer. I have had good luck with wildflower honeys or other honeys without a strong varietal character with a bready, toasty barleywine. A caramelly Scotch ale has paired well with Tupelo honey that brings a creamy (but expensive) flavor. Heather honey would be a nice theme, although the flavor of this honey can take a long time to mature. Blending expensive beer and mead in a small batch can be a competition strategy where you don’t want (or can’t afford) to produce a full keg or fermenter of finished braggot. Buckwheat honey can have a malty flavor of its own, and is an interesting choice in a braggot, provided it doesn’t have too strong of a barnyard character (this is a regional character of buckwheat honey — the Eastern type I get is dark and malty, not funky). Something aromatic like orange blossom honey might be nice in a simpler braggot without a rich malt flavor, something that might go with a Pilsner malt-heavy style like a tripel or Belgian blond.
Beers for blending into braggots are made just like the base style, although you may skew the recipe to the lower end of the bitterness range to make it better match the mead. Malt extract is a reasonable addition for the malt component in a braggot, and can make for a fast brew day.
Braggots produced directly as a single batch are made in a manner similar to the base beer style (or just like a standard ale, if it has no specific style), but the way the honey is handled can differ and is under control of the brewer.
When brewing braggot as a single-fermented product, the honey can be added at various points in brewing. It can be added at the start of the boil, at the end of the boil, or in the fermenter (at the beginning or later in fermentation). Honey is microbially stable so it does not need to be boiled for sanitation purposes, but heating it can make it easier to pour and mix. Boiling honey tends to reduce delicate flavor and aroma compounds while also denaturing enzymes that can be useful. If adding to the fermenter, it should be mixed in well with the wort, otherwise it tends to not dissolve and thus will be inaccessible to yeast initially. If honey is added late in fermentation, be careful about introducing excess oxygen that can oxidize the braggot.
My experience with honey beers has often produced beers that are slower to finish fermenting than the plain beers upon which they are based. This problem can get exacerbated when making braggot since the percentage of honey is higher. Some meadmakers will “feed” honey to a fermentation, adding it incrementally as it ferments to not overly stress the yeast. Some will experiment with using mead or wine yeast for fermentation rather than beer yeast, especially if higher alcohol levels are desirable. For me, I think splitting the mead and the beer fermentations allows you to optimize each, and then you can blend to your specific taste when both are finished. However, I know some prefer to only make single-batch products.
Homebrew Example
My example is based on an English barleywine base beer with about half the fermentables coming from wildflower honey. I don’t know if I would declare barleywine as a base style in a competition, since some judges will tend to judge the braggot too narrowly. I might expand on the concept in the competition entry description instead. Keep in mind that braggots will be judged with other meads within a homebrew (and likely also commercial) competitions.
I’m using an English barleywine with a rich, caramelly, lightly toasty malt profile with subtle bittering hops and no late hops. I’m relying on the hops to cut the sweetness a little bit, since I am targeting a sweet mead. Alcohol also will provide some of the balance to the maltiness. A straightforward ale fermentation typical for a barleywine can be used to make this braggot, since the honey is only introduced at the end of the boil. All the hot-side part of the recipe is identical to making a barleywine. If you wish to produce something more historical, leave the hops out entirely or perhaps limit them to less than 10 IBUs so they are below flavor threshold (like making lambic).
My honey choice here is a good, local wildflower honey. In Ohio where I live, this means it will often be largely clover honey. I would not use an expensive or super expressive honey in this mead since the malt character will have a large flavor impact. I add the honey at the end of the boil to help it dissolve but to also preserve aromatics compared to an earlier addition.
The braggot is fermented with an ale yeast tolerant of alcohol to about 10%, so that’s about the finished strength of this mead. It will be a sweet mead with a finishing gravity over 1.040. I plan on it being a still mead, although if it picks up a little carbonation during conditioning, that is no problem. If I find the mead isn’t finishing fermentation, I would use some Lalvin 71B yeast to try to get fermentation to complete.
Most of the time when I make braggots, I am blending a strong, malty beer with a finished mead. That is still my preference since it allows me to more completely control the balance. It would certainly work in this case to make a Golden Promise barleywine and a sweet clover mead and to start blending them at a 50/50 ratio. If you desire a stronger braggot, you can help achieve this because the mead can be fermented using mead yeast that is more alcohol-tolerant. A 10% barleywine blended equally with a 14% mead gives you a 12% braggot. But that’s OK, I’m still fine with a 10% braggot as a winter sipper.
If the braggot seems too sweet to your taste, age it longer or try adding some oak. I prefer to use medium-toast French oak spirals and preboil them to reduce any raw wood character. Use a short contact time, tasting every few days, until the tannins of the oak balance the sweetness. The vanilla, toasty flavor of the oak will complement the base beer. However, oak can easily become dominant, so I prefer to try the unadulterated braggot over time before experimenting any further.
Gordon Strong’s Braggot
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.116 FG = 1.042
IBU = 24 SRM = 19 ABV = 10.1%
Ingredients
8.5 lbs. (3.9 kg) Golden Promise or pale ale malt
2 lbs. (907 g) torrified wheat
1 lb. (454 g) crystal malt (45 °L)
12 oz. (340 g) crystal malt (135 °L)
3 oz. (85 g) pale chocolate malt
8 lbs. (3.6 kg) wildflower honey (0 min.)
7.2 AAU Challenger hops (60 min.) (1 oz./28g at 7.2% alpha acids)
Wyeast 1335 British Ale II or White Labs WLP025 (Southwold Ale) yeast
Step by Step
This recipe uses reverse osmosis (RO) water. Adjust all brewing water to a pH of 5.5 using phosphoric acid. Add 1 tsp. of calcium chloride to the mash.
Mash in pale ale malt and wheat at 149 °F (65 °C) and rest for 60 minutes. Begin recirculating, add the crystal and chocolate malts, and raise the temperature to 170 °F (77 °C). Rest at mashout temperature for 15 minutes while recirculating. Sparge slowly with 170 °F (77 °C) water, collecting 6.5 gallons (25 L) of wort.
Boil the wort for 60 minutes, adding hops at the start of the boil. Turn off the heat, add the honey, and stir gently to thoroughly dissolve. Let rest for 20 minutes.
Chill the wort to 68 °F (20 °C), aerate the wort and pitch the yeast, and ferment until complete. Rack and package in kegs or bottles without priming. Allow to condition at cellar temperatures for 6 months
or more.
Gordon Strong’s Braggot
(5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.116 FG = 1.042
IBU = 24 SRM = 19 ABV = 10.1%
Ingredients
7 lbs. (3.2 kg) pale liquid malt extract
1 lb. (454 g) crystal malt (45 °L)
12 oz. (340 g) crystal malt (135 °L)
3 oz. (85 g) pale chocolate malt
8 lbs. (3.6 kg) wildflower honey (0 min.)
7.2 AAU Challenger hops (60 min.) (1 oz./28g at 7.2% alpha acids)
Wyeast 1335 British Ale II or White Labs WLP025 (Southwold Ale) yeast
Step by Step
Use 6.5 gallons (25 L) of water in the brew kettle; heat to 158 °F (70 °C). Steep crystal and chocolate malts for 30 minutes in a mesh bag, remove, rinse gently.
Turn off the heat. Add the malt extract and stir thoroughly to dissolve completely. You do not want to feel liquid extract at the bottom of the kettle when stirring with your spoon. Turn the heat back on and bring to a boil.
Boil the wort for 60 minutes, adding hops at the start of the boil. Turn off the heat, add the honey, and stir gently to thoroughly dissolve. Let rest for 20 minutes.
Chill the wort to 68 °F (20 °C), aerate the wort and pitch the yeast, and ferment until complete. Rack and package in kegs or bottles without priming. Allow to condition at cellar temperatures for 6 months
or more.
