Background
Cameron Pryor got into home brewing sour beer and soon got his friends Zack Brager and Bill DeWitt interested. Feeling there was not enough sour beer being produced in Southern California, the trio felt it was an opportunity. Although none of its founders had experience in the brewing industry, California Wild Ales was formed as an LLC on December 7, 2015. Throughout 2017 they focused on production with only bottles available for purchase. They added a tasting-room to the barrel house and opened to the public on April 1, 2018.
Getting Started
The trio avoided traditional financing or debt accumulation by not purchasing a lot of new brewing equipment. Instead, they have other breweries such as Mike Hess make the wort from California Wild Ales’ recipe. Pryor and company utilize two 4.5% alcohol-by-volume base beers—one brewed with caramel malt, the other with a touch of rye malt—as the foundation for all of their beers. Once the wort is back at the barrel house it is transferred into barrels which are sourced directly from wineries and distilleries for fermentation and aging. Pryor uses stock cultures of Brett, Lactobacillus & Pediococcus for fermentation and locally sourced fruits and ingredients.
Experience
California Wild Ales is in a warehouse space, inside a Sorrento Valley business park. There is a short bar and a variety of reclaimed sofas, tables and chairs. Impressive barrels full of beer are stacked to the ceiling right off the tasting room. We arrived on a Sunday afternoon to join a few other people in the tasting room. Bill greeted us from behind the bar. Bill is a very friendly guy capable of answering any question about the brewery one might have. We ordered a flight containing all 10 of the beers they had on tap.
All of the beers were quite drinkable ranging from tart to moderately sour with a variety of fruit. One of my favorites was the Citrus Xplosion with a bright lime nose. The Hami melon was also quite good with a detectable melon flavor. Bottles were available for purchase. Whether you’re new to sour beer or a longtime lover, we suggest you check out California Wild Ales.
No nearby lodging noted. When in the area check out Pure Project (Check out our review).
https://www.californiawildales.com/
