What better way to celebrate American Craft Beer Week than to brew a small batch at our pub using all locally grown American herbs?

This recipe does have a lot of Euro DNA, though. I love to drink peppery Biere de gardes in the summer months.   And I also love the classic mix of herbs from southern French cuisine know as herbes de provence. So I thought it would be fun and delish to do a mash up of these two traditional recipes.  

Dogfish Head Biere De Provence will be on tap at our Rehoboth brewpub in about three weeks. The recipe is focused mainly around the herbs marjoram, chervil, bay leaf and lavender with lesser volumes of sage and thyme. The hops all come from New Zealand and Australia. First Topaz then Aurora, then Wakatu.

We will ferment at 72 degrees with a slightly phenolic and peppery Trappist high-gravity yeast to about 6 percent ABV.

Here I am with Dogfish Brewmaster Tim Hawn as we try teas of the different herbs to dial in the ratios. I am wearing a shout-out shirt to my friends at the fine Oxbow brewery in Maine as a high-five for ACBW. Cheers!