Utah Brewery Map

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

A New Begining to Epic's Sour Brainless on Peaches

What began as a happy accident last year at Epic's Salt Lake City brewery, has now morphed into a new direction for our states original maverick brewery. Though sour beer have always been a part of Epic's larger plan the immediate and overwhelming success of the (one off) soured batches off Brainless on Peaches and Brainless on Cherries proved the time and investment Epic is making is due to pay off in a big way.

Shortly after opening the Denver Brewery, in August of 2013, Epic's owners purchased three 60 hectoliter Oak Foeders from New Belgium Brewing. These wonderful wooden vessels are the basis for what will come in Epic's new sour program. The first beer to be blended from the previous "wonderful mistake" is recreation of the locally famous "Wild" Brainless on Peaches.

Co-Owner Dave Coles said, "We isolated and banked the wild yeast (wonderful disaster), then attempted several fermentations, but nothing worked. Even the tincture of time failed to revive this wild strain to anything remotely close to its one-time-strength and glory. Wild Brainless on Peaches remains a true one-off, lost forever". Well, lost but not forgotten. After time and several trials, the brew teams from Salt Lake and Denver managed to create a new and exciting wild blend that was equal to or better than the original experiment.

Brainless on Peaches emphasizes the fruit's aromatics, not its sweetness. The sourness is derived from the Lactobacillus and Pediococcus with a little bit of Brettanomyces funk and tartness layered in, adding depth and complexity. The finish is tart, sour, and very dry, with maybe a touch of perceived sweetness from the Brainless Belgian Yeast. This is a beer that should be appreciated on the warmer side of cold. "We took our time crafting this beer" Dave adds. "we hope you’ll take yours enjoying it".

The initial release is very small, with only a few cases going to each market. If sour beer is your passion then I encourage you to seek it out. Future releases are planned but no firm timelines can be established. Look for release announcements and availability on our social media accounts and website in the months of June and July. Because of Utah's unique laws, it looks like our allotment of  Sour Brainless on Peaches will come later in July. Better late than never, eh?

Stay close, we'll get the details out as soon as they're available.

Cheers!

1 comment:

rob@microbusbrewery.org said...

Looking forward to trying this