Blackrocks takes summer seasonal to the shelf

This summer, craft beer drinkers will have another summer seasonal to choose from as they peruse the shelves. Blackrocks Brewery canned the first run of its Honey Lav on Tuesday and it’ll be in stores before week’s end.

“Honey Lav is a brew that we’ve been doing for at least a couple of years now since we opened the taproom,” Blackrocks co-owner Andy Langlois said. “Andrew Reeves initially spearheaded that brew and it became wildly popular at the taproom. It’s a really good, summer tasty brew.”

The Honey Lav is an American Wheat brewed with Michigan honey and lavender flowers. It will only be available for the summer months and with a fine balance between the honey and lavender characteristics, it’s a great beer to take to the beach. And while the canning process looks straightforward at a glance, there’s much more to it.

“It goes back all the way to the brewing process, but eventually, after the brewing process and after fermentation, it ends up in what we call a bright tank, or a conditioning tank, where it’s carbonated,” Langlois said. “We transfer from the bright tank straight to the canning line; the canning line picks it up and we start putting it in the cans. It takes about six hours to do a run, six and a half hours. We pack tech it all out with those plastic thingies on top and send it on out.”

Blackrocks has been brewing the Honey Lav as a summer seasonal for a couple of years now, with many patrons hoping for a can. Pending the retail success of the beer, Blackrocks intends to make this an annual release, but they’re also looking at other seasons as well.

“It’s already in the works,” Langlois said. “We’re planning on canning more seasonals as time rolls by. It’s fun for us; it’s fun for our customers and it’s always nice to put out something new along with your standard flagship beers.”