Hallucinogenic beer

Content warning: mind altering substances. As the title suggests. And dangerous ones, plus it’s a bit speculative (and given the possible danger, not exactly a good idea to test). If you are at work or whatever, read at your own risk. And, Do Not Try This At Home.

Ergot is a genus of fungus. (Genus is one level above species–for example, dogs, wolves, and coyotes are all in the same genus) It parasitizes grains and grasses, especially rye (for Claviceps purpurea) and sorghum (for Claviceps africana). And it is Bad News for humans (and other animals). Symptoms of ergotism (ergot poisoning) include hallucinations, headaches, nausea, seizures, gangrenous limbs, and, of course, death.

Experts suspect ergotism may have been at least a partial causal agent in various witch trials (the ones in Salem, as well as the far more extensive ones throughout Europe), and various other events that involve otherwise unexplained “mass hysteria” or the like. And it is definitely known to have caused a lot of suffering and death through a wide swathe of history.

But, as they say, the difference between medicine and poison is the dose. There are situations where the vasoconstricting (ie blood vessel narrowing) and other effects of ergot or ergot derivatives are useful, like in treating migraines, inducing abortions, or dealing with bleeding from childbirth.

And, perhaps more notoriously, ergot is also the primary source of the chemicals used to manufacture the hallucinogen LSD. And, as recreational drugs go, LSD is fairly safe. There have been few or no deaths caused by the direct effects of LSD, though there have been rather more deaths caused by the mind-altering effects (eg suicides, accidents from someone walking into traffic while tripping or whatever).

This implies, I suspect, that the mind-altering effects of ergot aren’t necessarily caused by the same chemicals that cause the more problematic aspects of ergotism. This is not necessarily the case, as LSD is not simply extracted from ergot, it’s synthesized from something extracted from ergot. But it lends–plausibility, at least, to the sequence of events speculated about here.

The basic situation is like thus: in ancient Greece, the Eleusinian Mysteries were celebrated by worshipers of Demeter and Persephone. At one point in the ceremony, the worshipers drank a special barley and mint beverage called kykeon. Like most caloric beverages before the advent of pasteurization, it was probably at least somewhat alcoholic, but there is considerable speculation that it had some other special ingredients with significantly psychoactive properties. Due to the secrecy surrounding the Mysteries, the exact recipe is unknown, but one of the most robust candidates for that special ingredient is ergot, or some extract thereof.

Now, the easiest possibility is that they simply used a small enough quantity of ergot not to cause ergotism. But even at fairly small doses, ergot is an abortifacent, and there have been no particular reports of women who were involved with the Mysteries losing pregnancies.

So, it is more probable that they somehow separated the compounds that they wanted from the ones that they didn’t. In most cases of ergotism, the individuals who were poisoned were eating the whole grain. But, if you perform a water or alcohol extraction–that is, either soak the grain in water and only drink the water, or brew beer from the grain and remove the dregs–then some of the compounds from the ergot will be left behind in the part you *don’t* consume. And the hypothesis is that the part that will be extracted in water will include ergometrine, the chemical from which LSD is synthesized, but not most of the more toxic (and less psychoactive) alkaloids.

So, it is possible (with the right processes, and the right ergot) that you can take grain that would make you very sick or kill you if you ate it, use it to brew beer, and drink the resulting mildly hallucinogenic beer in relative safety.