From the Beer Writer: Tradition and the needs for categorization and organization dictates that there must be guidelines by which beers qualify as a certain style from a judgment standpoint (for competitions, for instance—currently the Brewers Association awards medals in 92 categories while 80 sub-styles recognized by the Beer Judge Certification Program). That said, many modern-day brewers are experimenting with new ways to produce certain styles. Many of those strive to produce the characteristics of a certain type of ale or lager faster or in a less costly manner. One of the most popular methods employed at present is “kettle-souring,” wherein boiled wort is inoculated with microorganisms and left in the kettle to develop biologically fueled tartness that carries over to the finished beer. Brewer James Petti of Vista’s Wavelength Brewing Company went that route in creating his take on a Flanders-style brown ale (i.e., “Oud Bruin” or BJCP Style Category 23C, if you prefer). Originating from Belgium’s East Flanders region, archetypes of this style are warm aged in oak or stainless steel and left to sour over a period of months. Petti kettle-sours his using Lactobacillus and Pediococcus. He also incorporates fresh hops from brewery owner Hans Haas‘ Valley Center home-garden. The result is Wavelength Oort Bruin, a beer with plenty of acidic character plus some of the earthiness also associated with the style. And though it lacks some of the complexity of a traditional Oud Bruin brought about by slowly coaxing sourness from those bugs, it does the job and makes for a surprisingly ambitious offering from a small brewery that only recently celebrated its first year of operation.
From the Brewer: “Continuing Wavelength’s effort to spread the word of craft beer and science, Oort Bruin is named after the Oort Cloud, an extended shell of icy objects that exist in the outermost region of the solar system. It is believed that the Oort Cloud reaches almost two light years from our sun. This makes it the largest known structure in our solar system, and surely is worthy of a hand-crafted sour from our brewery to help educate and amaze.”—Hans Haas, Owner & Brewer, Wavelength Brewing Co.
From the Bottle: Oort Bruin is a strikingly tart ale balanced by earthy undertones. Brewed with fresh Simcoe hops in addition to Wavelength-grown fresh Nugget hops, this Flanders brown soured in the kettle for over 60 hours with Lactobacillus Brevus and Pediococcus Damnosus.