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Being an avid honey consumer, I couldn’t help but use honey to brew one of my favourite beer styles: honey beer. Petals, pollen, meadows of flowers! I could get very poetic to describe what I feel when drinking this special beer. Its freshness and fragrance make honey the most worthy ingredient to add to a beer brew besides the classic ingredients of malt, hops, yeast and water.
My love for honey beer stemmed from my passion for honey. During my university days, I often worked in the laboratories during the weekends to complete my thesis work. Since I often finished late at night, I would often run into Pasquale, the building caretaker. At first, I must confess that this man was a bit scary to me because he was lame and had a glass eye. Bumping into him at night in the buildings of the University Monastery was for me like finding myself in the plot of “The Name of the Rose“.
However, Pasquale was a great honest man and also a passionate honey producer, and we soon became friends. He shared his passion for honey with me. Although I never became a honey producer as I dreamed, I became a good customer of Pasquale’s. Even today, after his passing a few years ago, I still consume large quantities of honey throughout the year, not counting the honey I use for the Ventuno honey beer
As a brewer, I strive to produce balanced beers in which all ingredients can be tasted at the same time. For this reason, I firmly believe that honey beers can only be truly enjoyable if honey is used in small doses, enough to release the scents of flowers without being overwhelming.
What a joy to sip a beer that receives a distinctive character from the honey flowers: delicate from acacia and linden, stronger and bitterish from chestnut, complex and enveloping from mixed-flower honey.
When drinking honey beers I recommend using a beer glass with a wide opening so that all the flavours of the flowers come out of the glass. A tulip-shaped beer glass or a cognac glass are best. If these are not available, use a large red wine glass. That will do just fine!
It is true that there is no such thing as the honey beer style. However, honey can be skilfully added to classic beers (pilsners, amber ales, IPAs, etc.). However, craft brewers have created ‘experimental’ honey beers that cannot be easily classified into a beer style.
Expect a higher alcohol content in honey beers. Honey naturally contains sugars that are fermented and converted into alcohol. Also, if the beer is well brewed, expect a fine texture that makes the beer ’round’ in the mouth and provides a sense of ‘warmth’ despite being consumed chilled. In fact, the best temperature to consume this beer is around 10-12°C.
Ventuno, a balanced honey beer to pair with desserts
The idea of making Ventuno (the Italian for Twenty-one) was born in 2021. We wanted to brew a beer for the end of the season, without using spices but only honey as ingredient that would give more alcoholic strength and flavour. This was going to be our Christmas beer. My love for British amber ales brought me to use a British beer recipe as a base. A good special hop, a great flowery honey and my passionate heart would give the special touch to our newly born craft beer.
The colour of Ventuno is that of a precious amber stone: red-golden and bright. Its flavour is pleasantly malty and nutty. It is just a little sweet and of course the honey multi-flowers are all in the glass. I would call it a meditation beer to drink on its own. However, Ventuno also goes very well with various dishes.
Among many, I recommend pairing this honey beer with cheese and desserts. It is very tempting to enjoy a little honey together with cheese, which is probably why this craft beer is the most suitable to drink with most cheeses. Together with experienced cheese producers and refiners, we tasted our Ventuno together with Brillat Saverin, Vaccherousse, Crème de Bourgogne and Parmesan. It was simply fantastic.
A honey beer that also goes very well with desserts
Thanks to its slight sweetness, Ventuno also goes well withdesserts.. This is what sommeliers would call the ‘complementarity’ principle, whereby sweet foods go well with sweet drinks. We have already described some traditional Christmas desserts.
However, we tried our honey beer Ventuno with other classic buttery cakes and found the pairing of them just amazing. Due to my personal love for Scotland (and for their beers…), I could not miss Scottish short breads. They are biscuits made with only four ingredients: flour, sugar, butter and a tiny pinch of salt. Maybe because of the simplicity of the recipe, this classic Scottish cake is just delicious. The crumbly biscuits melt in the mouth like butter and the honey beer refreshes your mouth with every sip…. You can also experience this incredible feeling of freshness by eating Waffel, a buttery, soft and crispy dessert originating in Belgium and France (Gaufre in French).
Swiss cakes are also extremely delicious and one of them, made with honey and nuts, is one of my favourites: the Nüsstorte from the Engadin, the Swiss canton of Graubünden, well known for the ski resort of St. Moritz. In this case, in addition to its refreshing qualities and the heady beer bubbles balancing the butter, the taste of the honey beer is very much in harmony with the nutty and honey flavours of the cake.
Baking Doughnuts with honey beer
It appears that the Doughnut was not invented by a Grandma for his grandchildren. Story says that a ship captain named Hansen Gregory was tired of eating cakes that were cooked outside and raw inside, where the dough was thicker. Desperate of this inconvenience and often sick to eat raw food, Mr. Gregory had the brilliant idea to make a hole in the middle of the dough before baking/frying it to ensure proper cooking. I love this story and can easily imagine the good captain being busy baking cakes and drinking glasses of good beer.
What if the good captain added some of his beer to the doughnut dough? We took an Italian recipe of a large baked doughnut called Ciambellone and included some honey beer Ventuno into it. Beer bubbles add extra softness to the doughnut and the honey flavor will delight you. The result is simply amazing.
Prepare your Captain Doughnut (Ciambellone) using Ventuno honey beer
Step 1
Add the olive oil and lemon zest to the egg yolks and beat with a whisk until smooth.
Step 2
Add the egg whites, a pinch of salt, and the sugar to a bowl, then beat with a whisk until the mixture is voluminous.
Step 3
Mix the beaten white yolks (step 2) with the olive oil and egg yolk mixture (step 1).
Step 4
Continue whisking, adding in this order: the honey beer Ventuno, flour, and baking powder.
Step 5
Pour the dough into a doughnut mould buttered and floured on the inside. Bake in a preheated oven to 180° for about 35 minutes. Cooking times vary a little from oven to oven. Use a wood toothstick to pinch the doughnut. The doughnut is ready when the stick is completely dry after removing it from the cake.
Let the Captain Doughnut cool and serve it covered with plenty of icing sugar.
Enjoy honey beer on its own or together with a good dessert. If cooking is your passion, make your own Captain’s Doughnut and share it with your friends. You’ll amaze them!
Please share your new baking experience with us. Of course, we would love to know in the comments below what you think of this article.
