The Sour Hammer

Every great beer has a simple beginning water, malt, hops, and yeast. The rest is in the hands of the brewer. When we look at the brewing regions claims can be made that Germans are the most technical brewers while the Belgians are the most patient and the Americans are extremist. All great qualities for the aspiring home brewer determined to make better beer. This attention to detail will distinguish your creations from the beers of the crowd.

When The Peticolas Brewery hit Dallas's beer scene. The family brewery presented an extreme beer called The Velvet Hammer. The acute use of malt and hops make this beer special. Hidden behind the malt is 9% alcohol by volume balanced by lots of hops (85 IBUs).

After an extended passage as laymen to the brewmaster Michael Peticolas trusted CH and I with the last runnings from the Velvet Hammer grist mash. This is the low gravity wort just before the grains drain out. In the brewery this wort is discharged so that no grains flow into the boil kettle. In the old world these runnings would have been collected to make beer for laymen. The King's beer was made from strong wort called first runnings. The Velvet Hammer is made from strong wort hopped, boiled and fermented.



The Sour Hammer was made with laymen's wort (malt extract). The low gravity mash out gave us as homebrewers brewmasters an opportunity to make beer fitting for the King. We took the small amount of wort boiled it down and hopped it. The result was rich and flavorful at 15 Plato of 7.5% ABV potential. In an effort to create distinct sours the wort was fermented with with several strands of wild yeast with Brettanomyces. Two gallons were inoculated sour blends from the regions of Belgium. The funk is developing nicely. However, sour beers mature over time like Belgian brewers we are practicing patience while planning a private release. There are only 10 gallons so the event must be elitist by nature. Stay Tuned!