As the popularity of sour beers continues to form a firm niche, craft pioneer Rogue Ales has announced its first-ever mixed-culture, barrel-aged sour release.
Côtes du Rogue is a sour blonde, tart, with hints of oak, lemon, vanilla and apricot, the company reports.
“Innovation and creating new, unique products are at the forefront of everything we do,” says Rogue President Dharma Tamm. “We’ve really wanted to create more traditional sour beers so last year we invested in three foeders and have made our Rogue Eastside Pub and Pilot Brewery the official Rogue souring house. We are thrilled to introduce Côtes du Rogue as our first barrel-aged sour beer and can’t wait to continue experimenting with this popular style.”
Souring beer is a labor-intensive process, and there are only 350 cases available worldwide of Rogue Ales Côtes du Rogue.
“Côtes du Rogue was a beer years in the making. It all started several years ago, when we caught a wild yeast strain from the open air of the Yaquina Bay,” says Danny Connors, Rogue Innovation Brewer. “We cultivated the strain, along with five common varieties in 16 barrels, selecting and blending the best of them to form our house mixed culture. With this unique culture we’ve created a series of limited, foeder-aged, sour beers to get your taste buds tingling and Côtes du Rogue is the first in that series.”
