We are thrilled to introduce our first-ever sour beer, Sour-endipity, an ale brewed with real kiwi fruit!

This beer took months to develop. To find the right flavor, Head Brewer Matt Burkhardt enlisted the help of our loyal customers at the Rolla R&D Brewpub. In December 2017, we held a Battle of the Sours, pitting a lemon sour beer against a kiwi sour beer. The kiwi flavor prevailed as it nicely balances the base beer – a sour wheat ale.  The resulting Sour-endipity is sharp, sour and effervescent with a dry finish. Refreshing and thirst quenching, it is perfect for summertime!

To give you a little background about this style, sour beer is one of the oldest types of beer in history. Before pasteurization and sterilization was understood, many beers had the potential to have a somewhat sour note because of wild fermentation or naturally occurring bacteria in the environment. Over the last couple of years, this style has started to gain popularity because adventurous craft beer drinkers are always looking for something new and craft beer brewers are always looking for a challenge.

Because this was the first time we’ve kettle soured a beer, Burkhardt was extra diligent. He even slept overnight in the brewery to make sure everything ran smoothly! After creating the wort like in other normal brews, we ran the wort into the kettle and cooled it to a temperature just right for bacteria growth. We used lactobacillus to sour the beer. This bacteria is a probiotic that converts sugars to lactic acid. It’s the same live culture you find in unsweetened yogurt and sauerkraut.

Once the lactobacillus was pitched, Burkhardt had to wait. He checked the pH and acidity every few hours to get the exact level of sourness he wanted. Then, the wort was boiled again and hops added. Boiling killed the remaining lactobacillus, ensuing the bacteria cannot contaminate future batches of beer. This is important because if not controlled, this bacteria can grow rapidly in our equipment and can cause off flavors in all of our other beers. And we definitely don’t want that! The sour beer was then fermented using an ale yeast strain. The kiwi fruit concentrate was added at the end of fermentation.

Get your hands on this delicious Sour-endipity Ale! Find it exclusively in our Taproom Sampler variety packs in stores near you. Plus, get it on tap at both of our locations in St. James and Rolla or take it home in a Taproom Sampler!

ABV: 5.0% | IBU: 6 | SRM: 3.2