Name: Another Method of Making Good Beer
Ingredients: 2 quarts molasses; 8 gallons cold water; 2 ounces allspice; 2 ounces ginger; 2 ounces hops; ½ pint Indian meal; 4 quarts water

Why it works: Allspice and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,620 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Another Method of Making Good Beer

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Pour 2 quarts of molasses into a keg with 8 gallons of cold water. Stir well, leaving one head out.

Make the spiced liquor

Boil 2 ounces of allspice, 2 ounces of ginger, 2 ounces of hops, and ½ pint of Indian meal in 4 quarts of water for about 1 hour.
Strain the mixture into the keg while hot. Stir well.

Rest

After 24 hours, the beer will be ready for use or bottling.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Allspice + gingertop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,620 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,116 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Molasses + allspicetop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,508 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ginger + hopstop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Molasses + hopstop 41% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together5 recipes

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Molasses: Provides the sugar that yeast ferments, and the dark sweetness and flavour of the beer.
Hops: Adds bitterness and aroma that balance the sweetness of the molasses.
Ginger: Adds a warm, spicy aroma and flavour to the beer.
Allspice: Adds a warm, aromatic spice flavour to the beer.
Indian meal: Adds body and starch that gives the mixture more texture.