Beer with Lavender in the Spring of Espírito Santo

Convento Cervejaria draws inspiration from lavender and launches a special beer for the season

Spring is a colorful season, a reference to flowers, and a time of transition to the arrival of summer. During this period, with temperatures still mild but warmer, craft beer emerges as a great choice, especially if it is inspired by the blooming season.

How about lavender, which has been enchanting the people of Espírito Santo lately? Well, Convento Cervejaria created a beer made with lavender, specifically from the Khas lavender farm, located in Venda Nova do Imigrante. The beer, in the Saison style, is popular in the European spring, between northern France and southern Belgium. "It is common to use native flowers from their region; we made an adaptation and used Espírito Santo lavender as our main ingredient," explains Léo Leal, one of the partners of the Espírito Santo craft brewery.

Regarding the characteristics of the drink, Léo highlights its fruity, dense, and complex flavor. "As its origin is homemade, the production process is relatively simple, being fermented at high temperatures. The result is a dense drink with good foam formation, with a color ranging from golden to straw and a cloudy appearance. In the aroma, it is traditional to find fruity notes combined with yeast, and, of course, with the flowers," he emphasizes.

"And in this fruity flavor, we also have moderate bitterness, light acidity, and a dry finish. It is quite common to find unusual ingredients in its composition, ensuring a complex flavor," points out Leal. "Everything that is within reach of the kitchen fits here," the businessman emphasizes.

Convento Cervejaria once again shows the appreciation of Espírito Santo products in yet another creation of totally local craft beer.

History

This style of beer originated on the farms of Wallonia, a rural region located in southern Belgium. For this reason, this style is also known as Farmhouse Ale, which loosely translates to "farmhouse beer."

Its production was seasonal (hence the name Saison), always at the end of the cold seasons, so that workers would not be left "idle," as the demand for labor was lower in winter, and also because the fermentation process in warm seasons was affected, leading to most of the bottles produced during these seasons spoiling.

Since there was no refrigeration at the time, the beer had to be produced at mild temperatures, be resilient and robust to withstand the rise in temperature, and at the same time be pleasant and refreshing to quench thirst.