re: #50 ObserverArt

Got to ask…the beer thing, lethal hallucinogens, what? Is there some history to that, or just funnin’ us?

Who knows…might want to try some! ////

Old-school beer was sometimes augmented with some truly crazy stuff…mandrake root and other stuff with psychoactive effects that increased the intoxication. Though, admittedly, this was less prevalent (and more entertaining) than the tendency of people to have their own beer style defined by whatever local herbs could act as flavoring and preservatives. Nonetheless crazy shit like henbane and amanita mushrooms was sometimes in the mix.

There’s actually still a style of beer called gruit, which is defined by being unhopped and flavored with other adjuncts. I’ve had a few gruit microbrews, but the crazy psychoactive ones that people homebrew (there’s a book of recipes of “Sacred and Healing Beers” out there on Amazon) sound a little…extreme. Particularly when you consider that Asia Minor/Europe didn’t have the cool psychoactives, it had the scary berseker ones.