From the Beer Writer: Traditionally, the tartness of Berliner weisse ales has been made more palatable in native Germany care of different types of syrups made primarily of raspberry or Woodruff, a flowering perennial plant with a savory, herbal flavor. Syrups aren’t really en vogue in American craft brewing, especially locally where most brewers prefer to use fresh fruit or natural purées when adding secondary flavors to their beers. Then there are the folks who use lots of natural fruits, like the team at Owl Farm Unique Fermentations (the offshoot brand of Vista’s Booze Brothers Brewing), whose new creation, Fruit Medley, incorporates not one, not two, but seven different fruits, ranging from berries to citrus to stone fruit, grapes and melons. The beer equivalent of Carmen Miranda’s headwear (as denoted on this beer’s can), it smells like the fresh fruit section of a brunch buffet and tastes so fruity (yet still delightfully tart) that its lingering aftertaste could have one swearing their mouths were covered in delicious peach pulp. It’s a nice everyday drinker that will debut today in conjunction with Owl Farms’ one-year anniversary in Vista.
From the Brewer: “Like all good ideas, Fruit Medley was conceived one random morning when I was cracked-out on coffee and desperate for inspiration. A tray of assorted of fruit was sitting on our bar counter, left over from a wedding we’d had in our private event space. Instead of throwing out the fruit like any sensible person might do, it dawned on me to juice the fruit and add it to a kettle sour we had brewing on our pilot system. A few weeks later, we had a tasty fruited (watermelon, cantaloupe, white grape, apricot, mango, pineapple, strawberry) sour beer. Over the next couple months, we struggled to source seven different fruits, to recreate a very aromatic, melon-forward sour beer.”—Donny Firth, Co-founder & Brewmaster, Owl Farm Unique Fermentations