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winter citrus fruit. The first of the three batches was brewed with the zest and juice of grapefruits and oranges. The second batch incorporated the zest and juice of lemons and limes, and the third batch used the zest and juice of tangerines and clementines.

All three variations are dry, highly-attenuated, authentic farmhouse ales, brewed with Hill Country well water, malted barley, malted wheat, hops, and fermented with a unique blend of brewer’s yeast, native wild yeast, and native souring bacteria. Their flavors are yeast and souring bacteria driven with the fruits serving as integral components of the fermentation. We don’t add fruit (or fruit flavorings or concentrates for that matter) to filtered and pasteurized beer at packaging time to make what amounts to a beer cooler. Rather, we incorporate the fruit into the fermentation, so that wild yeast and souring bacteria can transform the fruit flavors into something that’s greater than the sum of the parts. For instance, think about the difference between grape juice and wine. Why are the two so different from one another? It’s because the grape juice has been fermented by living microorganisms. We apply the same principle to the use of fruit in our beer. Less