Our First Sour Works Release: Madcap! (Copy)

We’re thrilled to release the first edition from our Sour Works: Madcap Spelted Farmhouse Ale. This beer was made with a Phillips in-house innovation: the Sour Works Barrel Reactor. We took inspiration from the classic Burton Union System which is a traditional method of fermentation that recirculates the yeast from batch to batch in oak barrels. We then combined this classic technique with a modern bioreactor approach that encourages a diversity of flavour enhancing microbes to take up residence in our system. The final result was the creation of this first ever Sour Works Barrel Reactor comprised of four modified oak wine barrels that form one incredible tower of sour!

Our Madcap Spelted Farmhouse Ale began with Belgian yeasts, brettanomyces, our house Lactobacillus culture and plenty of time. Featuring a heavy dose of malted Spelt to add an exaggerated and rich wheat character, this small batch brew was recirculated through this custom made interconnected barrel system during fermentation. This stage of brewing is perfect for the beer to gain flavour complexity from the diverse array of microbes and yeast that have thrived in this unique barrel reactor system. Our Madcap Spelted Farmhouse Ale has been aging for a year soaking up all this flavour from the Barrel Reactor, you may have even spotted it in action when visiting our Tasting Room.

Madcap is bright and full of citrus with softer aromas of baking spice, orange, pepper and grasses. The sharp sour notes give way to flavours of quince, stone fruit and key lime.

This first ever 473mL canned release from our Sour Works experiment is available in very limited quantities exclusively at our Beer Shop. Come see join the Sour Works experiment with us and see how tasty science can be!