Reverie: A Daydream Seven Years in the Making

Written by: Zac Baaske (Brew Master)

When I dove into the world of beer I found incredible flavors in the pale ales, stouts, and saison served at various hip bars and haunting the cooler at my favorite carry out. I liked them all so much I asked a local brewery for a job. I began brewing beer professionally in 2015 and soon after was introduced to the world of barrel aged beers. Friends’ and coworkers’ bottle shares were my crash course to the world of enormous barrel aged stout and porter. I was smitten. The artisanship of craft beer already had me on the hook, but now I had discovered an even deeper level. I was all in; reading what I could get my hands on and tasting any interesting old beers I could find. Then at one fateful bottle share at an old workplace everything changed. A friend brought a bottle of 2016 Jester King Spon and my mind was blown. It was sour, funky, vinous, fruity, and maybe even a little, well, weird. But like a strong piece of cheese or a particularly robust wine, I could not leave it alone.

Zac pulling a nail and tasting from the barrel — monitoring acidity, funk, and balance to determine when Reverie was ready to harvest.

Then I started to seek out similar flavors in my own community. I found that several breweries in Columbus were making beers similar to this, as well as a few other breweries in the state. What’s more, I was fortunate enough to attend a talk at the Great American Beer Festival which described the process of creating a “quick” barrel aged sour beer. This otherwise complicated and mysterious process that often requires specialized equipment became much more accessible. I got to work right away. I spent time designing recipes over and over again, running small batch tests of bacteria and wild yeast on wort taken from a larger batch, and still reading every sour beer or adjacent book I could find.

Zac preparing for bench-top blending and ABV checks — evaluating how individual barrels work together before final blending decisions are made.

Ownership of the brewery I was working for at the time dismissed the idea generally, but I finally got approval to start a series of barrel aged saison. I solidified a recipe, selected barrels, and even had our quality lead isolate a yeast strain from apples from my dad’s apple trees. I was finally ready to create my very first barrel aged sour beer. Of course things are hardly ever that simple. The company closed its doors before I ordered the grain.

A close-up of the sight glass during harvesting — monitoring clarity and flow as Reverie moves from barrel to tank.

Now, 7 years later, I am writing this to introduce you all to Reverie, a beer that started as a simple daydream. Reverie spent about a week in my cellar before it was racked into barrels and inoculated with wild yeast and bacteria. I spent the better part of a year checking barrels, tasting, and losing sleep, but one day this past fall, it was finally time. The beer had reached a desirable level of acidity and wild yeast character, so I harvested the barrels and conditioned the beer once more, cold, in a stainless steel tank. After slowly carbonating and fussing over this beer for another month it was finally time to share it with the world.

Applying labels to the bottles in preparation for filling — the final steps before Reverie is ready to be shared.

This experience has continued to be just as much of a journey as it ever has been. While I am so proud of this beer (and enjoy a glass often), I already have ideas for ways to improve in the future. That’s the thing about craft beer and brewing for me: there is always something to learn, and always new ways to improve. That’s beer, and that’s life. So, whether you have day dreams or beer dreams, never stop building them. Thank you, and cheers!

Filling the bottles — completing the process and preparing Reverie for release.