Philly Sour Beer Yeast Big Hit Among Local Breweries – and Beyond

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Joel Sprick, Levante's quality manager, right, shown here with Levante's production manager, Matt Gilberg working with Philly Sour at Levante Brewing Co. in West Chester
Image via Alejandro A. Alvarez, The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Levante Brewing Co. in West Chester, is using Philly Sour yeasted to make its fruited sour beers.

Philly Sour, a new beer yeast found in a Philadelphia cemetery and isolated in the brewing sciences lab at the University of the Sciences, is winning accolades from the local beer industry and beyond, writes Harold Brubaker for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The yeast is being lauded both for the sour flavor it gives the beer, and the time it saves the brew house. Making sour beer usually requires a delay either in the brewing kettle for bacteria inoculation or developing in wooden barrels. Thanks to Philly Sour, this extra step can be skipped.

Tired Hands Brewing in Ardmore, Levante Brewing in West Chester, and Free Will Brewing in Perkasie are among Philadelphia area breweries that have been using the new beer to great success.

Kurt Grunwald, quality manager at Tired Hands, tasted one of the trial batches four years ago when he was a student at the University of the Sciences. He recalled finding it hard to believe the taste did not come from the beer being soured in a wooden barrel and he immediately reported it.

“The university decided to move forward with commercialization,” he said.

Read more about Philly Sour in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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