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Warm drinks

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Grzane piwo · orange, blueberries & whole spices

A quick warming drink I discovered in Poland. Dark stout brings coffee-like bitterness, balanced by fruit, honey and spices.

0.5 L · two glassesQuick to make · optional steep: 0–5 minutes

Orange juice and peel, blueberries, ginger and whole spices, ready for the saucepan.
Orange juice and peel, blueberries, ginger and whole spices, ready for the saucepan.

Ingredients

  • 500 ml dark beer — Guinness stout or dark porter
  • 1 orange — coloured peel and juice
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 1 handful blueberries
  • Whole green cardamom, allspice, cloves and 1 star anise — lightly crushed
  • 1 stick true (Ceylon) cinnamon, thin and easily broken by hand, rather than cassia; up to 1.5 sticks, never two
  • Optional: 3–4 slices fresh ginger
  • Optional: apple or apple peel

All additions are optional and adjustable to taste. Omit anything you dislike, including star anise or cloves, or adjust them for a different character.

Method

  1. Use the orange’s coloured peel and juice, avoiding the bitter white pith. Or cut the fruit and muddle it in the saucepan; muddle fruit and berries with a muddler if available to release flavour.
  2. Add beer, honey, fruit and berries to a small saucepan. Add lightly crushed whole spices, hand-broken cinnamon and any optional additions.
  3. Heat, stirring to mix. As soon as bubbles appear, remove from the heat.
  4. Strain immediately, or steep off heat for up to five minutes, stirring occasionally for more flavour.
  5. Strain into a shared jug or large cup, pour into two glasses, and cool until comfortable to drink.

Variations

Dark beer & fruit

Blueberries are my favourite tested version; adding ginger made it more interesting. I also tried plums, but liked them less. Raspberries or blackberries are ideas to try, not tested versions.

Light beer

Use the same method with light beer. Replace the orange with one mandarin; two make it too sweet. Use sweet dark grapes instead of blueberries, and molasses or a 50/50 honey–molasses mix instead of honey. Optional: one chopped sweet pear, muddled before heating. Its flavour is subtle among the other ingredients.

The light-beer variation with mandarins, dark grapes and molasses.
The light-beer variation with mandarins, dark grapes and molasses.

White beer

White beer works well with orange without becoming too sour. Dark, sweet, flavourful grapes are especially good with it.

A note on 0% beer

The same method also works with nonalcoholic beer. One sweetened 0% dark beer I tried made the drink too sweet; that does not mean every nonalcoholic beer is sweeter. For a sweetened beer, less honey or perhaps lemon instead of orange are adjustments I am still exploring.