Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer Unicorn Tears - Lavender/Vanilla Blonde Ale

I've wanted to involve lavender in my brewing since the outset, so I crafted a recipe for a blonde ale that would be light enough that the lavender would shine, but tasty enough that if the lavender didn't add much I would still want to drink it. Luckily, I found a great balance, so I thought I would share this recipe for a great spring or summer ale.

You don't have to transfer to a secondary if you don't want to, but you'll use the second 10 days of fermentation to infuse the beer with the lavender scent. I used 1 oz. of dried Angustifolia lavender (it's culinary lavender, so it's lower in camphor than the aromatic varieties) and just dumped right on top of the beer like a dry hop. That amount resulted in a gentle floral aroma - if you want something more dramatic, add another .5 - 1 oz.

I prefer a hoppy beer, so I added my last addition of Crystal hops late enough that I would get some of their flavor. The aroma of the hops will clash with the lavender a bit, but leave it in the bottle for 3 weeks and cold condition for a week and the hops will settle nicely into the background.

One last suggestion: I primed this with Vanilla Sugar to add just a touch more vanilla flavor, but it is still quite subtle.

Fermentables

3 lbs. Light DME
1.5 lbs. Two Rwo
0.5 lb. Crystal 10
0.5 lb. Wheat
6 oz. Vanilla Sugar (add at 10 min. hop addition)

Hops

0.75 oz. Crystal @ 60
0.5 oz. Crystal @ 30
0.75 oz. Crystal @ 10

Misc.

Whirlfloc Tablet @ 10
1 oz. cleaned, dried Angustifolia lavender (add after fermenation complete, let sit for 10 days)

Yeast

WLP051 - California Ale V - this highly flocculant strain is good for getting a nice, clear beer with a slightly sweet and fruity finish.

Cheers!

I had to look just because the name made me laugh a bit...was expecting Harry Potter or something. Anyway, looks tasty

I wanted to wait until I had a few positive reactions from friends. Most people think lavender and immediately think it's going to taste like soap. They are usually surprised by how light and mild the flavor is.

We added vanilla bean in the fermentation in lieu of the vanilla sugar. We've made this a few times and tried a few different variations. This is definitely one of my favorites as a girly girl homebrewer.

This is definitely my next brew, love the name and sounds like it may win over some of my anti-homebrew friends.

I had a beer with lavander and it tasted like it was added in the boil maybey 5-15 min, not bitter, but flavorful. so dry hopping surprises me.