It is always a welcome surprise when someone drops off a bottle of beer at our farm. It is even better when that beer has been brewed with our very own honey! We have been lucky to collaborate with two of our favourite local breweries on speciality beers flavoured with Gael Glen Farm honey. Using it to make delicious beer is probably my favourite way to use up delicious surplus honey.
When bees have time to seal up their honeycomb with wax cappings, the extracted honey has the correct moisture content and preserves well in jars. However, sometimes the honey production process is interrupted before it is complete, resulting in uncapped honey that has a higher than optimal moisture content. This honey does not keep well. It crystallizes fast and can also ferment.
While uncapped honey is fine to eat and use in baking or cooking (I do it all the time), we do not bottle it to sell. Even with using our uncapped honey regularly in baking, we were still overrun with buckets of the stuff - it was taking over our kitchen!
I am not a fan of mead so a better option to deal with our surplus uncapped honey was to sell it to local brewers. We sold some to home brewer friends and the rest to local craft breweries. I love tasting beer made with our honey - it is incredibility exciting!
Our first collaboration this year was with Small Pony Barrel Works. Using our honey they made a sour beer called Hive Mind. This beer was aged with the kernels found inside of cherry stones to give it almond and amaretto flavours. Next our honey and dried chamomile flowers were added. Amazing! Can you see our logo on the label? That is the coolest thing!
When bees have time to seal up their honeycomb with wax cappings, the extracted honey has the correct moisture content and preserves well in jars. However, sometimes the honey production process is interrupted before it is complete, resulting in uncapped honey that has a higher than optimal moisture content. This honey does not keep well. It crystallizes fast and can also ferment.
While uncapped honey is fine to eat and use in baking or cooking (I do it all the time), we do not bottle it to sell. Even with using our uncapped honey regularly in baking, we were still overrun with buckets of the stuff - it was taking over our kitchen!
I am not a fan of mead so a better option to deal with our surplus uncapped honey was to sell it to local brewers. We sold some to home brewer friends and the rest to local craft breweries. I love tasting beer made with our honey - it is incredibility exciting!
Our first collaboration this year was with Small Pony Barrel Works. Using our honey they made a sour beer called Hive Mind. This beer was aged with the kernels found inside of cherry stones to give it almond and amaretto flavours. Next our honey and dried chamomile flowers were added. Amazing! Can you see our logo on the label? That is the coolest thing!
The result of our second collaboration was a seasonal pale ale called Tea O'Clock. In addition to using Gael Glen Farm honey, Crooked Mile Brewing Company brewed this beer with Equator Coffee Roasters Earl Grey tea. Tea, honey, and beer - the trifecta of perfection.
Here's to hoping more beer-honey collaborations are in our future. Come on bees - the next step is up to you!
No comments:
Post a Comment