The Kernel has produced a Sour Cherry Bière de Saison which is a blend of British sour cherries macerated with its aged saison.
The Kernel founder and head brewer Evin O’Riordain explained that he has been looking for sour cherries growing in the UK for some time now, but now he has secured his growers he can continue to experiment with sharper fruit flavours.
“It’s taken us years to find sour cherries here in the UK, but we’ve found a grower now. In America, you have cherry pie and things like that but here you usually have dessert cherries and not really sour cherries. We wanted to make a beer like that. Our saison is a mixed culture fermentation. It’s made with saison yeast and then basically any cultures found in the barrels over the years,” said O’Rioardain, adding: “There’s something nice about the cherry stone at the end that gives a little bit of spice to the beer. We do this also with damsons, which have quite a similar effect, but there are so many fruits that are really sour you wouldn’t normally just eat them. Luckily though, they’re perfect for beer.”