The hot weather is here, and it’s got me thinking about a beach vacation. But sandy sunsets and bouquets of tropical flowers aren’t quite in the cards for this summer, so instead I’m going to bring the tropics to your door, by way of homebrew.
Say hello to the hibiscus flower. Its bold flower petals aren’t just eye-catching; they’re also edible when dried, which means summer beer brewing just got a lot more colorful.
At Night Shift Brewing in Everett, Massachusetts, Brewer Vincent J. Tursi III has used hibiscus both late in the boil (in the last five minutes or less) and as a dry hop additive during secondary fermentation (for twenty-four to thirty-six hours immediately before packaging). “We’ve never mashed with hibiscus,” he says, “My thought would be that you would lose a majority of the flavor via boil-off.”