From the Beer Writer: When it comes to sour ales, just about any fruit, and even some vegetables, are fair game. I’m challenged to think of any berry, citrus, stone or tropical fruit I haven’t tasted as an infusion in a sour, whether produced via kettle or oak barrel. After sampling hundreds of them, it’s my belief that no type of produce is more ideally suited for tart beers as passion fruit. Puckeringly sour and a tad funky, they taste like a sour ale all on their own. One of my favorite things to do back when I worked for Stone Brewing was pick passion fruit at Stone Farms on a hot afternoon. They were so tasty and refreshing. So too is Island Vibes, a new canned offering from Coronado Brewing. The third of the company’s Art Series releases, it comes packaged in aluminum cylinders decorated by local artist Kelcey “KFiSH” Fisher. The crisp, light-bodied, 4.5% alcohol-by-volume kettle-soured ale presents a rich, earthen, and funky bouquet and a purely passion fruit flavor that combine to take me back to the farm. Island Vibes tastes distinctly like the fruit that’s in it, and succinctly proves why passion fruit is so well-suited for this style of beer.
From the Brewer: “Island Vibes is the third beer in our KFiSH Art Series and is the second beer in a row to come out of our R&D program. Just like [its predecessor in the series] Marine Dream, Island Vibes made its debut earlier this year on a much smaller scale at our locations. The feedback to the beer was resoundingly positive, so we decided to bring it back on a bigger scale and put it in 12-ounce cans. Island Vibes is a kettle sour with passion fruit—it’s super refreshing, effervescent and at 4.5%, it’s the perfect summer session beer. Everything about this beer screams summer vibes, and we think it’ll become a go-to beer for a lot of people as the summer heat rages on.”–Mark Thiesen, Head Brewer, Coronado Brewing