“If it weren’t for kettle sours, would we even be talking about sour beer right now?” asks Khris Johnson, owner and head brewer of Green Bench Brewing Company in St. Petersburg, Florida. “I’ll go on record and say that it’s the best thing that ever happened to sour beer.”

He knows what he’s saying is controversial.

But if ever there was a quick-sour evangelist, Johnson would be it. “I never looked at it as a way to replace traditional methods,” he continues. “I thought it was way cooler than that. I thought I could invent something wholly new.” The enthusiasm in his voice is palpable, pitched higher, with a fluttering pace, as if his words are trailing behind his brain like streamers on a kite.

Johnson has reason to be excited—he’s one of the most well-respected producers of beer using quick-souring methods. He’s also one of the most well-respected producers of beer using aged-souring methods. He also produces beer using a method that falls somewhere between the two.

As far as quick-soured beer, Green Bench is known for their Florida IPAs, or FLIPAs. The series is, essentially, an amalgamation of the three big trends in beer right now: hazy, fruity, and acid-forward. But Johnson has been making them for years. They are bright and expressive beers, with flavors than can’t be neatly contained.

On the aged-sour side, Green Bench spans the gamut using all variety of barrels, foeders, fruit additions, and bottle conditioning on Brettanomyces to create thoughtful, vivid beers. This also includes The Sauvage Club, which focuses on farmhouse-inspired beer that’s fermented with a house mixed culture in stainless or oak prior to being conditioned in the bottle on wild yeast.

The in-between is where Johnson likes to experiment, playing with methods of quick-souring alongside longer aging in barrels and on fruit to create layers and depth of flavor. The results have made even some of the most revered and experienced aged-sour producers in the world do a double take.