It takes a lot of good tequila to make a great sour beer. At least that’s the case with one of the latest experiments from Andy Parker and the special-projects team at Avery Brewing Co. in Boulder, Colorado.
Parker has mixed many Tequila Sunrises over the past few weeks, he says, playing around with different proportions and ingredients. On a recent afternoon at the brewery, Parker and Cellerman Leigh Audin have split a batch of Belgian-style pale ale—which has been aging in a freshly used tequila barrel with added Brettanomyces and Pediococcus—into several smaller parts. They’ve dosed each portion with various ingredients they’re considering for a blended Tequila Sunrise–inspired sour ale—one portion with orange zest, for example, another with extra salt, one with lime juice, another with pomegranate, and one with cherry puree.
Their appraisal is quick and decisive as they taste through the results. “This one smells like baby vomit,” Audin says, holding up a cloudy snifter of base beer with added pomegranate. “What’s that smell again?”