Howdy!
We are full tilt into fruit season right now. This is my favorite part of the year because we get to build and maintain relationships with local fruit farmers! In other ways it's a bit brutal because of the extremely long days processing fruit by hand (or by foot), and still getting all our normal responsibilities done with brewing and packaging! It's crazy, but it will be extremely rewarding when our whole fruit beers start rolling out this fall. Just in the last 3 weeks we've received 300lbs rhubarb, 800lbs Georgia peaches, 4100 lbs cherries, 4000lbs blueberries. Still to come: MI 600lbs peaches & 600lbs plums. Plus about 8 tons of grapes starting in September! Woah!
Also, as many of you know, we also operate a winery. Native Species Winery is Spontaneously fermented wine, made for people that like sour beer. We are very, very excited about it, and we have a number of bottles that will be ready beginning Wednesday the 31st at 6pm. First come first served. Extremely limited quantities available. Check the Native Species website for more details.
Tickets go up to the public on Saturday, August 3rd at noon, and ticket sales end Friday the 9th at noon.
Eventbrite link to reserve tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/speciation-august-2019-release-tickets-66671737963
Pickup day is Saturday, August 10th from 10am to 4pm.
August RELEASES:
Slow Mutant - Barrel Aged Graf w/ Mango & Pineapple - A graf is a beer wine hybrid that was invented by one of my favorite authors, Stephen King. We blended a number of barrels containing beer and cider. After blending cider * beer aged in maple syrup bourbon barrels, bourbon barrels, wine barrels, and neutral barrels, we added mango and pineapple. Super complex, but still light and fruity. This graf is a great end of summer drink... or it can ease you into autumn the right way. $20 per corked and caged 750ml bottle. Limits TBD. Statewide distribution. 254 bottles available.
Protozoa - Spontaneously Fermented Sour Ale w/ Tart Cherries - Last summer our entire production crew went up to our friend Brian's house in Ludington to pick some tart cherries by hand. We decided to spontaneously ferment 75 gallons of wort with the yeast on the cherries. After a long primary ferment and maceration, we transferred the beer to rest in a single oak barrel for nearly a year. The resulting beer is beautiful! Strong tart cherry aroma and flavor, as well as a nice crusty cherry pie finish. $24 per corked and caged 750ml bottle. Limits TBD. Brewery only release. 168 bottles available.
Hydrozoa - Sour Ale Aged in a Native Species Red Wine/Bourbon Barrel - The second rosé inspired beer in our line-up. This barrel has produced some pretty amazing liquid in it's lifetime, and we are excited to release the last drops of liquid that it produced. It last contained our Frontenac wine, and then we topped it off with golden sour. $22 per corked and caged 750ml bottle. Limits TBD. Brewery only release. 114 bottles available.
Bujumbura - Foeder Aged Sour w/ Burundi Coffee - Our friends at Oat Soda in Lake Orion are about to open their bar, and they asked us to blend a sour for them with White Pine Coffee. We selected a bright and tangy Burundi coffee to pair with our base beer. Notes of watermelon, coco, and lemon. $20 per corked and caged 750ml bottle. Limits TBD. Brewery only release. 191 bottles available.
Side Shift - Biere de Coupage w/ Blackberry & Boysenberry - Collaboration w/ Transient Artisan Ales - In January of 2018, Chris from Transient called me out of the blue and asked if we wanted to brew a coolship batch because the weather was great. We decided to blend a batch of spontaneously fermented beer with each of our fresh saison. After that we blended in blackberry & boysenberry puree. This beer is ultra complex, with notes of classic lambic funk, and fresh berries. $22 per corked and caged 750ml bottle. Limit 2 for Cultured Club. Brewery only release. 190 bottles available.
Common Descent - Berliner Weisse Style Ale - w/ Cherry & Lime - If you've been wanting a stronger fruit flavor in your common descent cans, this one will deliver. It pours a deep pink rose color and tastes like a funky cherry 7 up. It's SO refreshing! Crush this one in a campground, or in a lake, or in a river, or on your porch, or in the woods... etc.. $20 per 4 pack of 16oz cans. Limits TBD. Limited distribution. 165 4 packs available.
DNAIPA - Sour IPA Dry Hopped w/ Denali, Nelson & Azacca - Our first sour IPA went over so well that we decided to make more of them! We learned a few tricks since the first batch, so this time around we decided to blend the IPA & sour at a 50/50 ratio, making it slightly more sour. Then we liberally dry hopped with choice hops from all around the world. $24 per 4 pack of 16oz cans. Limits TBD. Limited distribution. 165 4 packs available.
Cheers!
-The Speciation Crew: Mitch, Whitney, Adam, Kara, Todd, Devon, Quinn, Luis & Eric