DIVIDE, Colo. – Paradox Beer Company provides us the opportunity to look back at what beer used to be and forward to what it can become, all while making flavor variation and complexity our main objective.
Prior to yeast being researched and isolated, around 160 years ago, the fermentation process was all mystery and experiential understanding. Employing a single strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae without the presence of multiple brettanomyces and bacteria simply wasn’t possible.
Industrial brewing has further simplified the production process to eliminate unknown variables and take control of the outcome. Through the use of spontaneous and mixed-culture inoculation we strive to embrace seasonal uncertainty and explore the vast unknown.
For us, style guidelines are a conceptual starting point and never the final goal. We work to convey our personal experiences and tastes, along with a “wayward” mentality through our choice of ingredients, methods, and referenced inspirations.
Constant experimentation in our craft is driven through the simplest of questions, “why not?”
This ethos has guided us to embrace locally sourced yeast and bacterial blends as well as ingredients from around the world to make something truly unique.
Beer is more than a beverage, it’s a message.
Our ancestors have been passing on their understanding of fermentation for over 5,000 years and much of that knowledge has been lost.
We work to use advances in science as a tool to explore and not a means to silence the established narrative. Our bottled message, evolving barrel-aged sour beers, are a reflection of this respect for the past, filtered through our idiosyncratic values and increasing understanding.
We are not stagnant and neither is what we make. Our latest explorations on this noble quest include inspirations from the Mexican pineapple drink Tepache, a wine inspired hybrid made with Sangiovese grapes, a nostalgia driven Montmorency cherry sour, a dry-hopped sour with the rarely used Comet hop, a multi-vintage oak fermented Farmhouse blend, and a one year old spontaneously fermented golden.
Through each release we blaze our own path to find a truth that we can own.
Skully No. 53: Komet Sitra
Truly a sensual, unique experience.
The interplay of Comet and Citra hops in this dry-hopped sour brings together tropical and citrus character with our barrel-aged sour golden ale. 7.9% ABV
Skully No. 54: Cherry Crisp
Did someone leave the oven on?
Home is more than just a place. It’s a feeling, a sense, a presence that tells your senses you have arrived. Generating this visceral, nostalgic response is often the motivating force driving us to constantly create new fermented concepts. This Montmorency cherry wild sour ale was designed to subtly drop of series of sensory clues that will transport the mind while speaking directly to the body. 8% ABV
Skully No. 56: Rosé is Bae
Well paired ingredients sometimes have interactions that defy expectation and result in a torrid rapturous liaison. In this beer, we’ve joined Sangiovese grapes with our barrel-aged wild sour golden—things got real serious, real fast. 8.2% ABV
Skully No. 57: Piña Cielo
Fruit has an afterlife.
Fermentation begins the process that refines fruits to their essence, a reflection of one season and one place. This “tepache” -inspired wild golden ale began with the open fermenting of whole pineapples in our 300 gallon coolship. Ceylon cinnamon and dark brown sugar were added to further the evolution of flavors and hint at this drink’s origins in pre-Columbian Mexico. Salud! 8.5% ABV
Releases are available in 500ml bottles and 1/6th bbl one-way recyclable Dolium kegs.
About Paradox Beer Company:
Paradox Beer Company produces original and rare beers which honor the uncertainty of nature, bound with rigorous quality testing, providing one-of-a-kind flavors that could only be produced by Paradox. The rich mountain terroir has allowed Paradox to harvest, propagate and now inoculate its beers with house-grown Brettanomyces. Paradox crafts its beers with a passion for experimentation under one ethos: …unflinchingly wayward. Paradox beers are available in CA, CT, GA, IL, KS, MN, NC, NJ, NY, NV, OK, PA, TN, VA, WA, WI … and of course CO.