Homes Brewing - Funky Sours That You Could Write Home About

We decided to take a trip to Ann Arbor. This is a college town in Michigan that’s famous for the University of Michigan and it’s artsy culture. I’ve been hearing good things about this smaller brewery called Homes. I heard they are brewing some innovative beers which are focusing on the funky sour flavors that I’ve come to like. Since this was a new brewery for me I opted to get a flight of beers.

Being that the brewery is in such an artsy area. I thought I’d point out how cool their flight holders are. It’s a mix between modern and street graffiti. This aesthetic carried throughout the brewery making it feel pretty damn hip.

The first beer I tried was Phosphene a DDH IPA with all citra hops. My tasting notes had this one as bright, tropical, with loads of citrus. The perfect beer to start the evening with. It definitely opened up my palate for the greatness that was about to come.

The second beer was Senescence a sour which is brewed with milk sugar & coriander! They like DDH beers. So this one is dry hopped with mosaic hops. They then aged it on toasted hazelnut, Vietnamese cinnamon, nutmeg, and Papua New Guinea vanilla beans. That’s made for one hell of a beer. The flavors were all balanced and the complexity is insane. Somehow they are able to brew a beer with this much flavor that was not overwhelming and you could actually pick up each individual flavor.

The third beer was the 18 year King Cold Brew. This is probably my favorite beer. Cold brewed with Kenyan coffee (Embu County) via Coffee Works, aged in 18 year Elijah Craig bourbon barrels this beer had notes of milk chocolate, caramel & a smooth whiskey finish. Hands-down one of the better barrel aged beers I’ve had in a while.

The fourth beer was King Cold Brew. This was the similar to the 18 year. This one is cold brewed with Organic Peruvian coffee via Coffee Works. Again you get notes of milk chocolate, but then there is orange blossom & toasted almond. It also has creamy texture that is more noticeable. This may of been because it was not barrel aged.

The fifth beer was Leafy Leafy. This beer is a kettle sour brewed with coriander and aged on fresh basil. It was my least favorite, but it still was pretty damn good. The basil is a very strong flavor and thankfully it’s a flavor I like. This is not a beer for everyone.

Overall, I thought this is one of my better experiences. Making very innovative beers drinkable and interesting enough to make you take the drive to try them. I would highly recommend you check if you are in Michigan.