The latest discovery in the Almanac Sour System is here! Almanac Beer Co. has released its first-ever batch of Strawberry Sournova — a bright, tart, and astronomically fruity, making it perfect for sipping on a summer day. Available online on its own or in our new Sour Beer Mixed Pack.

As Almanac fans know, this is not a kettle sour. Unlike kettle sours — which create a monotone sour flavor in a matter of days, often using syrups or essences as fruit flavorings — this naturally conditioned, mixed-culture sour ale was aged for months in oak barrels with thousands of pounds of ripe strawberries and a touch of real vanilla.

During this extended fermentation, various yeast strains of saccharomyces, brettanomyces and probiotic lactobacillus bacteria steadily ferment the sugars from the beer and fruit, combining with the soft vanilla flavors slowly extracted from the oak cask, and coming together in an incredibly rich and nuanced flavor experience. While the process is much more time and labor-intensive than making kettle sours, the resulting beer is so fruity and flavorful we wouldn’t have it any other way. 100% of Almanac’s sour beers are aged in oak. Every single drop.

Damian Fagan, Founder and CEO of Almanac Beer Co. had this to say about the Strawberry Sournova:

“Sournova is the culmination of a decade-long dream. For many years, true mixed-culture sour beer remained locked in old school formats like 375 ml and 750 ml cork-and-caged bottles — making this amazing beer style difficult to travel with and harder to enjoy outdoors. We wanted to get sour beer outside, in the canoe, and at the beach, in a fun and colorful format that was easy to pack, carry and recycle.

“It took two years of extensive R&D to figure out how to put a mixed-fermentation beer safely into a can so it would have a minimum shelf life of one year. Given that we never pasteurize any of our beers, there is always residual fermentation still occurring in the can. This minor fermentation allows the beer to safely continue evolving inside the container, maturing much like a fine wine. After much trial and error and twenty months of experimenting, we figured it out.

“So, for nearly the last two years, we’ve been brewing Sournovas, and Strawberry Sournova is the eighth varietal in this series and I think my favorite yet. We always use real fruit, so this beer tastes like ripe summer strawberries, not a strawberry essence or flavoring. I’ll be drinking a couple floating down a river this weekend, you should do the same!”

The new Strawberry Sournova is now available for online purchase in 12 packs or 24 packs. Or the sour ale can be purchased as part of our new Sour Beer Mixed Pack. Shipping is free to anywhere in California.