New Braunfels Adding 3 New Sour Brews – Blondine, Cosmic Dancer, Black Fury, Les Fleurs Du Mal & Hopfenstopfen

Very Seldom Naughty

Blends3, 4 and 5

At New Braunfels Brewing Company we’re burdened by a passion for dynamic flavors in our fermented beverages. A love of the flavors and poetry of wine is an obvious part of our palate and one taste of Very Seldom Naughty will prove that. 

The beer is Blondine, our wheat beer brewed with 85% white wheat and pilsner malt. After primary fermentation we age Blondine in barrels with a rotating selection of TX white wine lees from TX wineries that inspire us. 

Two of those are William Chris Vineyards and Hilmy Cellars.

The lees are yeast and sediment that falls out of suspension when the winery stabilizes the wine prior to bottling. Much of the flavor, aroma and nuances of the wine are still present and that’s the flavor we’re infusing into the beer. Each release highlights the unique characteristics of the grapes and the winemakers who crafted their wines with them. 

Blend3

Aged in barrel with Muscat and Albarino lees from Hilmy Cellars near Stonewall, TX. This release consisted of only 12 cases of 750ml bottles and a few 5gl kegs. We’ll be releasing bottles and draft in our taproom this weekend starting Thursday at 4pm. 

Blend4

Aged in barrel with Rose lees from William Chris Vineyards in Hye, TX. This release consisted of only 18 cases of 750ml bottles and a few 5gl kegs. We’ll be releasing bottles and draft in our taproom this weekend starting Thursday at 4pm.

Release to our distributors around the state

will begin selectively next week. Cases will be mixed cases

of eight bottles of Blend3 and four bottles of Blend4.

Blend5

Aged in barrel with Vermentino lees from William Chris Vineyards in Hye, TX. This release consisted of only 12 cases of 750ml bottles and no kegs. We’ll be releasing bottles and draft in our taproom Thursday, July 13 at 4pm.

Release to our distributors around the state

will begin selectively the week of July 17.

Saison de Poivre Citron

Just a little teaser. 

This one is still fermenting. For this beer we zest and peel Meyer lemons before adding them to our barrel for fermentation with Blondine. 

We’ve done the first of 3 presses off the Meyer lemons and are about 10-14 days away form the final two being added together in the tank. At that point we’ll add back the zest and crack some tellicherry pepper in to it. Under pressure it will sit for about a week until we bottle and keg-condition with fresh wort. —-

Blend5.6 Reserve

We are pleased to share with you our newest release from our barrel-aged TX white wine lees series, Very Seldom NaughtyBlend5.6Reserve. 

Very Seldom Naughty reflects our deep appreciation for the terroir of TX grown wines and the dynamic winemakers who boldly commit to using TX grown fruit in the face of an industry that largely does not. Fruit grown in our state produces minerality and a bright fruitiness unique to our climate and soil that grapes grown in other states do not. 

For VSN we barrel-age fine lees from a rotating selection of our favorite TX wines from producers we respect and are inspired by. The lees are added directly to the barrel and our 85% white wheat beer, Blondine, is added to fill the barrel. For most releases, barrel-contact is 3-4 months, after which the barrel and lees are transferred to a brite tank and blended with additional Blondine. 

For this release, Blend5.6Reserve, the wine we selected was from William Chris Vineyards in Hye, TX. These guys are truly pioneers when it comes to producing 100% TX grown wines and have been a favorite of ours for years. The wine is a fortified High Plains Roussanne, aged two years in barrel in William Chris’ Madeira House. The Madeira House is not air-conditioned and the hot TX summers created flavors and oxidation in the wine that are deep, rich and lingering. We used both the barrels and the lees for VSN 5.6Reserve and allowed 6 months of barrel time to fully incorporate the unique flavors. 

Prior to packaging, we transferred both barrels to a brite tank and decided to forgo the addition of Blondine, instead allowing the base wine and all its distinction to share a louder voice. We simply added fresh, unfermented Blondine wort to referment naturally in the bottle and keg. 4 weeks later, we’re ready to release the beer.

Very Seldom Naughty Blend5.6Reserve is available in 20 cases of 750ml bottles and 7 kegs at very select retailers.

Release to our distributors has already begun with supply in DFW and ATX with San Antonio soon after.

Like all of the Saison de beers we produce, the fruit was peeled by hand and fermented in our open vertical barrel for three subsequent fills for 7, 5 and 3 days, respectively. For Saison de Poivre Citron we selected Meyer lemons for their lower acidity and smooth lemon flavor. 

After primary fermentation, the 3 presses are blended together in a brite tank. We then add all of the zest from the peeled fruit along with fresh cracked tellicherry pepper and allowed another week to infuse the flavors. 

Texas watermelon sour saison

Like all of the Saison de beers we produce, the watermelons were cut into small chunks by hand and fermented in our open vertical barrel. To enhance the watermelon flavor of Saison de Pasteque we only did two presses off the fruit, the first after 7 days and the second after 5. 
After primary fermentation, both presses are blended together in a brite tank and allowed time to completely finish sugar conversion and secondary fermentation. 

Watermelon is a challenging fruit to express post-fermentation and we feel confident that Saison de Pasteque blends the best parts of the Blondine base beer and the refreshing watermelon flavors. 

Texas Lemongrass & Comal County Wildflower Honey Sour Wheat

Les Fleurs du Mal

This beer dates back to 2013 as it was literally the first mixed fermentation beer we ever produced, back when our imagination was far ahead of our abilities to produce great beer. Over the years we’ve refined our process and ingredients and are very proud of what she’s grown into. 

The beer begins as Blondine, our 85% wheat mixed culture hefeweizen. We ferment the beer under pressure in steel for 4 weeks with locally grown lemongrass from Firefly Gap in Canyon Lake. The purpose of maintaining pressure is to encourage our local yeasts to express different flavors than they would without pressure. 

Les Fleurs du Mal is a light-bodied beer with dynamic flavors and a crisp drinkability. The yeast is dominant with a refreshing finish that dances with food pairings of all kinds.