Upland Going Sour This Weekend
Upland worked with an IU biochemist to create the sour beer.
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowBloomington-based Upland Brewing Co. will open its $4 million sour beer facility to the public this weekend. Upland President Doug Dayhoff says only a handful of breweries in the United States have capabilities in the sour beer niche. Inside INdiana Business profiled the unique brewing process in the latest edition of the Life Sciences INdiana e-newsletter.
Indiana University biochemist Matthew Bochman helped Upland create the sour beer Cauldron. The company sought Bochman’s help after having to dump 1,600 gallons of beer, worth about $22,000, because a special fermentation method was failing.
Bochman, a self-professed beer lover, worked with his students to discover why Cauldron was not fermenting normally. Because he considers Indiana’s craft beer industry collegial and collaborative, Dayhoff says Upland is sharing the information with other breweries.
Upland says its sour program began in 2006, when it traded eight cases of beer for four white oak barrels from Oliver Winery in Bloomington. The brewery ultimately hopes to release 20 different sour ales.
Dayhoff says there’s very little scientific research about brewing sour beers.