Thermo Refur:

Sour Ale brewed with organic red beets, black pepper and black malt

Availability: winter. ABV: 8.1%

With all its complexities, this ale is at its core a play between two basic characteristics of beer: good and evil. On one side, there are the smart,clean flavors of bright hops (40 IBU's) and stimulating black pepper, and on the other side, there are the dark, dusty flaors of our unique yeast blend. It's like this: We took an elegant, classic wheat yeast from a good neighborhood and sullied it with questionable characters from the other side of the tracks: two brettanomyces yeasts - one known for odd fruity flavors, the other for carrying subtle barnyard notes - and a lactic acid bacteria which produces sour but exciting qualities. We added this dysfunctional family to a heavy grain base (yielding 8.1% ABV), which leans on malted wheat with just enough black malt to give a color backdrop for the late addition of organic red beets. The deep red of the beet pushes the dirty-brown base color toward a funky purple hue, while the simple sugars reinvigorate fermentation.

At its freshest, the influences of the once-wild-but-produced-in-a-lab-to-avoid-a-poaching-fine organisms ride beneath the hops and pepper. As the beer ages, look for the spices to mellow and the bad influence of the microscopic thugs to continue to corrupt the flavor profile.