This week marks the annual thyme festival here in Alexandra, with the surrounding hills taking on a pinkish hue as the herb flowers at this time of year.
Emerson Brewing has released a thymely beer to coincide with the festival.
Central Otago thyme honey and thyme leaves and flowers have been added to an ale to create Emerson's Thyme (4.7% alcohol).
Thyme has antiseptic and decongestive properties.
Nicholas Culpepper, a famous herbalist of the 17th century, even recommended thyme for treating drunkenness and hangovers.
But it can also increase urine flow.
Old herbal recipes used thyme to ease throat infections, colds, coughs, bronchitis, for shrinking swollen nasal passages and easing menstrual pain.
Application was by a vinegar paste or by a herbal tea made from pouring boiling water over one or two teaspoons of finely cut leaves, with a little honey added to make the concoction less pungent.
Today, it is used in a variety of disinfectants, mouthwashes, gargles, cough medicines and lozenges and antiseptic soaps.
In Asian medicine it is a remedy for diarrhoea, itching, toothache and vomiting.
Lifting a glass of Emerson's brew is like going for a walk on thyme-covered hills, when the boots crunch the herb to fill the air with its pleasant pungent aroma.
It certainly clears the sinuses! The thyme dominates the flavour and leaves a characteristic pungent aftertaste instead of hop bitterness.
If you like thyme, you will love this brew.
It has not been bottled and is available only in PETs or flagons from the Dunedin brewery or on tap around the city (Inch Bar, Tonic, Starfish, Eureka).
One other thyme beer of which I am aware is made every winter by a brewery in Achouffe, a Belgian town.
This Nice Chouffe is a warming 10%.
It has thyme, orange peel and coriander in it, and has been said to taste a bit like roast lamb.
Carbs or alcohol?
The previous column outlined some low-carbohydrate beers for the weight-conscious.
But alcohol has nearly twice as many calories as carbohydrates, so low-alcohol beer might be a better alternative.
My favourite 2.5% brew is Christchurch brewer Harrington's Harry's Light which, cleverly, has yeast particles left in it to generate body.
It has a lovely peach/nectarine aroma, a good balance of hop and malt and a long-lasting head, and is effervescently refreshing.
Even alcohol-free beer has about 60kj (15cal) per 100ml.
Try something other than beer?
Well, British research indicates that, per 100ml, there are 176kj (42cal) in orange juice, 197kj (47) in apple juice, 268kj (64) in milk, 240kj (100) in a milkshake, 252-336kj (60-80) in wine and 1050kj (250) in spirits.
