4 New Texian Beers Debuting at GABF
Josh F.
Courtesy of Texian Brewing
This year, Texian Brewing is debuting four brand new beers at the Great American Beer Festival (GABF). Three of them are mixed culture fermentations, a first for Texian.
Texian has been rolling out a new Wild Texas series of beers that showcase funky and sour flavors, along with names that reference little-known Texas trivia. The first beer in this series was “Donkey Lady”, a sour with apples and cinnamon that is as close to liquid apple pie as you can get without blending up an actual apple pie. The beer is named after an early settler that was burned in a fire and now haunts a bridge south of San Antonio.
Josh Haley, an Admiral in the Texas Navy, was kind enough to send me some information on the new sour and wild beers, along with the banner they are using for GABF, seen at the top.
FM359 is named after the Farm-to-Market road the brewery is located. Josh says, “We fermented this beer with a blend of Saccharomyces & Brettanomyces yeast strains as well as Lactobacillus bacteria. The combination creates a dry finish, a little fruitiness and a slight bit of tartness.” This sour and funky saison will be a base for fruited versions that Texian plans to release throughout the year. It is likely that the “plain” version won’t be found outside of their taproom or special events. The first fruited version will have raspberries and blackberries, and it should be available in 22 ounce bombers soon.
Courtesy of Texian Brewing
Aurora is the second in the “Wild Texas” series. It is a Golden sour brewed with Lactobacillus and Brettanomyces. The beer was then racked onto apricots and aged on oak. “The result is a tropical, fruit forward beer that is slightly tart and has a light hint of oak character”, says Josh. Aurora is named after the alleged UFO crash in Aurora, Texas, just north of Fort Worth.
Black Jesus will be the third beer in the “Wild Texas” series. Josh says it is “a dark sour beer that is fermented with a blend of Brettanomyces and Lactobacillus. After primary fermentation, it is aged on tart cherries. The result is a tart beer that has a great cherry flavor and a slightly roasted flavor from the dark malts.” It is named after full-sized bronze statue of Jesus in the Oakwood Cemetery in Huntsville (resting place of Sam Houston). The statue has darkened over time, and rumor is if you stare at it, the statue will switch from palms up to palms down.
For the sour beer nerds and homebrewers: These three beers are brewed with Brettanomyces and Lactobacillus, pitched alongside the Saccharomyces in primary. They will have live cultures in the bottle, unlike Texian’s other beers Donkey Lady and Charlie Foxtrot, which are kettle sours.
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