Gale Beer

Sweet Gale is a variety of Bog Myrtle (Myrica Gale) with aromatic leaves occasionally used as an alternative to hops for flavouring beer.

A correspondent to 'Notes and Queries' of July 1863 says of the "'gale beer,' brewed from a plant growing on the moor above Ampleforth, in Yorkshire, is made and sold by Mrs. Sigsworth of the 'Black Horse,' the best public house in that long village. It bears a high local celebrity for its regenerative properties."


Bog Myrtle


Possible Irish or Swedish origin of Gale Beer
Morpeth Herald - Friday 23 June 1939