I don’t know about you, but I’ve been jonesing for summer since…well, about the onset of winter last year. Although I’m always excited to dust off the snowboard every winter, the big draw of summer, at least for me, is the gardening. So, while The Mister is mowing the lawn and enjoying lawnmower beers, I am cultivating flowers and enjoying flower beers. It’s only fitting.
While your first reaction might be that the last thing you want to put in your mouth is a flower, its addition to beer can be quite tasty. Some flowers are subtle and add a nice, smooth quality to beer, while others pack a more powerful punch. And that’s not to mention the base beer to which they’re added, which can either empower the flower or complement it by balancing flavor characteristics (a strong IPA with a spicy, more robust flower, or an IPA with a sweet, more floral flower, to give an example).
I recommend starting with the base beer you like (sour, witbier, and so on), then searching out those that are brewed with flowers. You’ll already have a good baseline knowing you like the particular beer you’ve selected, and you’ll be able to pick out the flower flavors and aromas more easily.