Turtle Time
Breakside Brewery - SE Taproom

Turtle Time is inspired by the traditional kriek beers of Belgium’s Pajottenland and Zenne Valley. We blended a cohort of 8 casks that had aged for over two years in retired wine barrels and then let the beer slowly referment on over a half-ton of tart cherries. The fruiting on this beer is extreme compared to our other sour ales, but the heavy hand with cherries is a trick that we picked up on our travels in Belgium, where using upwards of 3 lbs of fruit per gallon of beer is essential to get the full expression of stone fruit flavor, color, and complexity!

This beer underwent a final fermentation in the bottle to lock in its scrubbing effervescence and a prickly, drying minerality. In terms of yeast expression, this beer showcases a wide range of Brettanomyces character with a refined balance of phenolic and feral elements. The confluence of Brett, alcohol, and cherry here leans rich despite the low residual sugar, and it is reminiscent of some of our favorite Flanders-style sour beers even though it is much lighter malt-wise than most beers in that vein.