Now that we’ve covered how to grow, harvest, preserve, and brew beer with flowers, I have some recommendations for various flowers and the beers they’ll work best with. That said, don’t take my word as gospel—experiment to your heart’s content!
Be sure you plan your garden well in advance—you might need up to three years before you can harvest a significant amount if you’re growing perennials. With perennials, the general rule is this: the first year they sleep, the second year they creep, and the third year they leap. So while your first and second years might yield a few blooms, by year three you should have a pretty robust crop. In the meantime, if you can’t wait that long, head over to a spice shop or a natural foods store to fill in the gaps. If you are using dried buds, be mindful that the measurements will be different from freshly cut blooms: a good rule of thumb is that you need about 1/3 the amount of dried flowers as of fresh (so if your recipe calls for 1 cup of fresh flowers, you will use 1/3 cup of dried flowers).
And, of course, it bears saying that some flower species can be toxic. If you’re going to use a flower outside this list—and I encourage you to do so!—do your research to make sure it’s safe to consume before you toss it into the mix.