If you’re a super beer geek or just a general SweetWater geek, you may have heard about the barrel-aged sour that’s in the works from us. Because there was–and still is one funking away, but unfortunately it won’t be ready in time for our 18th Anniversary.

We even had a label approved by the TTB (Feds who approve alcohol labels) back in December in case it was ready in time for our anniversary next month.

Funny thing about bacteria like Lactobacillus is they work at their own speed – you literally have to let nature run its course for a beer to sour. After regular tastings over the past few months, what we’re working with is not gonna be as sour as we want it by February when we blow the doors off the brewery for our 18th birthday party which, did we mention, The Revivalists are playing? Here’s the 411 on that: https://www.facebook.com/events/479671675507266/

Choice was pretty clear to us: let’s let this funky sour sit in the barrels a while longer til she’s good and ready to party with us and look to brew another beautiful beer to celebrate our 18th in February.

We settled on a Belgian-style Tripel hopped up with Centennial, Amarillo and Sterling, then dry-hopped with more Amarillo and Sterling. We’re also using the same Ardennes yeast as Spinnerbait to give it that nice kick of spiciness.

By then in February, the cork and cage filler we snagged from the fellas up at Brooklyn Brewing will be running, so the Tripel aka 18th Anniversary will still be our first cork ‘n cage release. Then, whenever the sour’s profile matches up with our expectations, we’ll bottle that off and enjoy the funk out of it!

At the end of the day, it’s never an exact science when bacteria and barrels are involved, but we know y’all are gonna enjoy what we cooked up while you wait for the sour. Live and learn, serve no wine before its time, keep pushing our boundaries and taste buds, and keep drinking good beer!