In my latest article for The Bulletin, I highlight the latest iteration of Courtesy Violation Sour from Bevel Craft Brewing, brewed with passion fruit rather than being dry hopped as it usually is. I started writing the article because of the fruit component, and then delved more deeply into the kettle souring angle.

Extract from the article:

Bevel Craft Brewing is best known for its hop-forward ales with a lineup of beers dominated by IPAs and hoppy pales. It’s not all hops, however; a handful of other styles rotate through the taps, and one of the more interesting — and perhaps unexpected — is the brewery’s Courtesy Violation Sour.

Kettle souring has become a favored practice for many sour beer brewers; it maintains a relatively clean brewery and minimizes the chance of infections from the types of wild organisms and cultures used in other souring methods. Adding pure lactobacillus culture directly to the wort is a common method to start this process; some brewers have even used live-culture yogurt to kickstart it.

At Bevel, owner and head brewer Nate Doss follows a more traditional method. “The lacto culture used in Courtesy Violation is house made from a process I was taught by a mentor of mine. The process uses English malted barley and an incubator to help propagate the culture which is then pitched into the wort while still in the kettle,” he said via email.

Though more time-consuming, this method relies on lactobacillus bacteria naturally present on the grain. “We are trying to get the natural lacto from the grain husk,” confirmed Doss. “It’s cool because I can order different grain from different places and see changes in the culture.”

I dig into a bit more background, and of course offer my thoughts on the beer itself. Go check it out!