Stewards of the Land Lavender Bee Balm Brown Ale and Blueberry Lemon Hand Pie

 I’ve grown a serious taste for some tiny pies. When I had this lemon blueberry pie from my crazy aunt, I thought about this beer we got from the hop expert Alex from Defransesco’s Hop Farm who is building an awesome looking brewery on the farm where he will (hopefully soon) be brewing up some local craft beer. 

Beer:  The beer is a brown ale that is loaded with floral notes. The beer is really impressive. Like the other beer from Stewards of the Land we had, it’s bottle conditioning makes it just a little less carbonated than we are used to in commercial beers. The aroma and flavor profile make up for it. It has a huge lavender aroma and also a ton of floral notes right away. Those flavors lead to some nice mild maltiness, and a super light hop finish. I actually think it could have been better if it was a bit more but the lavender and and subtle tea notes were most excellent.  

Cookie:  Alright, it’s a small pie not a cookie but that’s nothing new from us. This one is a simple blueberry filling with a swirl of lemon zest in there, with a sweet lemon glaze. The glaze has a big ole lemon pop, you can see the tiny lemon zests which make my mouth water. The crust to glaze to filling ratio is just rocking. My usual complaint about pie is there is just too much filling, with the hand pie you don’t have that problem, it’s just right. 

Pairing: The brown ale was an awesome partner for the pie. The big floral aroma and flavor went really well with the bright pop of citrus from the pie.