Oh! You can search far and wide
You can drink the whole town dry
But you’ll never find a beer so brown
As the one we drink in our hometown.
You can drink your fancy ales
You can drink ‘em by the flagon
But the only beer for the brave and true
Comes from the Green Dragon!

Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took — The Return of the King, 2003

***

A large part of why millions of readers and movie goers have fallen in love with the Lord of the Rings is that Middle Earth was not written with convenient plot devices built in for its stories. It exists as a world and the characters interact with it, the world was there before the characters. J.R.R Tolkien was a linguistics professor and wanted to invent languages, but languages do not exist separately from history or culture. Tolkien claimed that Lord of the Rings was “…an attempt to create a world in which a form of language agreeable to my personal aesthic might seem real.”

Much of the detail on Middle Earth was developed so its many inhabitants could possess extensively detailed histories and cultures—and with culture comes food and drink. The kinds of foods that these peoples enjoy feed masterfully into our understanding of them.

The Elves, elegant and inexorably in tune with the natural world are depicted eating fruits, berries and fresh breads and they drink cordials and meads. They’re never expressly stated to be vegetarian, but it would make sense given what we know about them.

The Dwarves are the polar opposite of the elves. In Peter Jackson’s cinematic adaptation Gimli talks eagerly about feasts of “…red meat, right from the bone,” and after the sack of Isengard he is visibly anxious he might miss out on the salted pork that Merry and Pippin have looted. The Dwarves may desire gold and jewels but their real love lies in cured and roasted meats.

The barbaric and monstrous orcs? They can subsist on a hard grey bread and a grog the colour and consistency of bog water, but they’re truly happy when meat’s back on the menu! They’ll eat anything, including orc meat, but their favourite is, of course, man flesh.

But what of the Hobbits? Halfling culture is portrayed as rustic and agrarian. The Shire of the Hobbits is a simple place, one of peace, quiet and good tilled earth. Hobbits' food is plain yet joyful; they enjoy a fry up for breakfast consisting of sausages, tomatoes and nice crispy bacon. They love potatoes boiled, mashed or roasted into crisp, golden chips. Younger hobbits look to pilfer mushrooms, carrots and cauliflower from Farmer Maggot’s fields. They enjoy hot soups, cold meats, blackberry tarts, fresh loaves, slabs of butter and ripe cheeses.

In the books and films Samwise Gamgee summarises this as a love of homely, honest food. Bilbo Baggins also—importantly—points out that Hobbits don’t just love to eat, they have a keen interest in the brewing of ales as well. The Hobbits are homebrewers, with the potency of Gaffer Gamgee’s brews practically infamous within the Shire. There are pubs dotted all over this corner of Middle Earth: the Ivy Bush, the Golden Perch in the East Farthing and of course Frodo and Sams’s local, The Green Dragon.

The Hobbits regularly mention how much they miss their local while on their adventures. When Merry and Pippin are celebrating Rohan’s victory at Helm’s Deep, they cheekily refer to Rohan’s beer as “fancy ale” and sing a jolly tune bragging about the Green Dragon’s beer.

But what kind of beer would a Hobbit drink? A plain and comforting beer, I reckon. Something unpretentious, and certainly not a “fancy” ale. We know the beer at the Green Dragon is brown. Hobbits also like to drink a fair quantity of ale, so something sessionable would be preferred. A lower alcohol, homely and simple, brown beer? It’s got to be mild; with its malty, sweet flavour and just a hint of earthy hops. Yes, I can see the Hobbits supping many a half of Mild down the Green Dragon.

I’ve made this recipe intentionally straightforward, even for a mild. A dark and light crystal malt and some chocolate malt provide the colour, body and toffee caramel sweetness, plus a bit of wheat malt for head retention. The real star of the show, however, is malt made from a heritage barley variety called Chevalier.

““Green Dragon Mild is brown, malty, sweet, earthy, comforting, joyous, eminently quaffable and unapologetically unpretentious””

Chevalier is a landrace barley variety, meaning it evolved naturally, rather than being developed through forced propagation, and breeding. Importantly, it was the first every variety of malt used in commercial beer production. It fell out of favour in the mid 20th Century as growers sought higher yielding varieties, such as Maris Otter, in order to boost profits, but has recently made a comeback. It’s quickly gaining popularity among modern breweries due to it adding marmalade-like sweetness, and breadiness to a beer. In the words of Crisp Malt, who are responsible for its recent return, it’s “Maris Otter turned up to 11.”

With Hobbits being in touch with food, and the land that it’s from, I stuck to this heritage theme for the hops and went for British landrace varieties. Fuggles and Goldings even sound like Hobbit names, fitting perfectly into the language of Middle Earth, so Tolkien would approve I’m sure. Beyond their thematic fit Fuggles and Goldings add notes of earthy bitterness and floral aromas that remind me of a country garden the kind any Hobbit would be proud of.

The English Ale Yeast from White Labs ensures a thick and creamy mouthfeel, and adds pleasant fruity esters that dance with the sweet character of the Chevalier.

Green Dragon Mild is brown, malty, sweet, earthy, comforting, joyous, eminently quaffable and unapologetically unpretentious. This is perfect for homebrewers because you can get through forty bottles in no time.

If you choose to brew this up please let us know, and don’t forget to show your support via Patreon if you’d like to see more recipes from Paul!

Recipe

Target Original Gravity (OG) — 1.034
Target Final Gravity (FG) — 1.011
Target Alcohol by Volume (ABV) — 3.0%
Target International Bittering Units (IBU) — 16
Batch Size — 20 litres

Ingredients

2.6Kg Chevalier Malt (substitute for Mild Malt or Maris Otter if unavailable)
150g Chocolate Malt
50g Crystal 400
50g Crystal 10L
50g Wheat Malt
15g Fuggles added to first wort/start of boil
25g Fuggles at five minutes from end of boil
25g East Kent Goldings at five minutes from end of boil

White Labs English Ale Yeast (WLP002)

27L water total (8L for mash, 19L for sparge)

Method

Mash Duration — 1 Hour
Mash Liquor Volume — 8L
Total Grist Weight — 2.9Kg
Liquor to Grist Ratio — 2.6 L/Kg
Mash Temperature — 68ºC
Sparge Liquor Volume — 19L
Sparge Liquor Temperature — 75ºC
Boil Duration — 1 Hour
Fermentation Temp —18ºC