FORT COLLINS, Colo. — New Belgium Brewing’s next Wood Cellar Reserve is an homage to the southern culinary scene. Featuring Scuppernong grapes, the official state fruit of North Carolina, Southern Vine Sour is chock-full of confident and exciting flavors that epitomize the series’ ability to experiment and explore.
For over two years, New Belgium’s brewing team worked to perfect this highly unique and truly wonderful 8.4 percent ABV golden sour ale. The result? A smooth-drinking golden ale with delightful white grape flavors and semi-dry finish. This one-of-a-kind beer is sweet throughout, sour in the middle and full of candy pineapple and floral notes.
“Southern Vine Sour has it all – an individual barrel expression, fruit and spice experimentation, and fermentation exploration,” said Andrew Emerton, New Belgium Brewing specialty brand manager. “It’s New Belgium ambition and passion in a bottle.”
The Scuppernong grape is a variety of Muscadine, which is indigenous to the United States, and was first discovered off the coast of North Carolina over 400 years ago. That original grapevine, now referred to as the “Mothervine,” is the oldest cultivated grapevine in America. To source these grapes for Southern Vine Sour, New Belgium partnered with the Mothervine Wine Company, whose efforts go toward the protection and conservation of the original grapevine.
The Scuppernong grapes were refermented in a single French Oak foeder using the brewery’s golden sour base beer, which features the oldest, continuous souring culture in America. Prior to bottling, wild-harvested Sumac berries were added, harvested from the Wild Woodlands Sumac Groves of Ottawa, Canada.
“We brewed this in honor of our brewery in Asheville, North Carolina, and surrounding friends in the Southern states,” Emerton continued. “It is an elegant expression of two passions – wood and beer – and straddles the line between white wines and fruited American wild ales.”
New Belgium’s Wood Cellar Reserve series is made up of a selection of rare, small batch wild and sour ales expertly aged by the most award-winning sour brewery in America. Each batch is hand-bottled, conditioned for six months and 100 percent naturally carbonated allowing for the perfect texture and carbonation that our blenders intended for the beer to be enjoyed.
Southern Vine Sour
- ABV: 8.4 percent
- Yeast: Proprietary house mixed culture
- Fruits & Spices: Wild Scuppernong grapes, wild Sumac berries
- Visual: Pale golden, heavy sheen, slight white head and light lacing
- Aroma: Candy pineapple mixed with sweet tarts, floral, touch of vanilla
- Flavor: Starts sweet, smooth sour middle, slightly sweet finish
- Mouthfeel/Body: Medium body, puckering initially and finishing with a light acidity
- Availability: Now in seven states (CO, NC, FL, GA, SC, TX and LA) in 375 ml bottles and on draft while supplies last.
For more information about New Belgium or any of its beers, visit www.newbelgium.com.
About New Belgium Brewing
New Belgium Brewing, makers of Fat Tire Amber Ale and a host of Belgian-inspired beers, is recognized as one of Outside Magazine’s Best Places to Work, one of the Wall Street Journal’s Best Small Businesses and tops Bicycling Magazine’s Best Companies for Cyclists. The 100 percent employee-owned brewery is a Platinum-level Bicycle Friendly Business as designated by the League of American Bicyclists, one of World Blu’s most democratic U.S. businesses, and a Certified B Corp. In addition to Fat Tire Amber Ale, New Belgium brews fourteen year-round beers: Citradelic Tangerine IPA, Fat Tire Belgian White, The Hemperor HPA, Voodoo Ranger IPA, Voodoo Ranger Imperial IPA, Voodoo Ranger Juicy Haze IPA, Sour Saison, Honey Orange Trippel, Dayblazer Easygoing Ale, 1554 Enlightened Dark Ale, Bohemian Pilsner, Abbey Belgian Style Ale, Trippel and a gluten-reduced beer, Glutiny Pale Ale. To learn more, visit NewBelgium.com and follow the brewery on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.