Beer of the Week: Vice CranZu

From the Beer Writer: Walk into the San Marcos base of operations for Wild Barrel Brewing at any given time and you’ll find yourself with more fruit options than a produce stand. That six-year-old operation’s tasting-room menu is broadcast across two large monitors. On the right screen, you’ll find Wild Barrel’s “Vice” family of fruited Berliner weisse, and on the left you’ll find an equal amount of everything else. From day one, co-founding CEO Bill Sysak and Head Brewer Bill Sobieski have made German-style kettle sours a focal point of their business even though they are neither wild nor barrel-aged. Still, they respect the style and revel in showing patrons how good Berliner weisse can be by infusing them with more fruit flavors and combinations than you’ll find literally anywhere. From apricot, cherry and nectarine to mango, prickly pear and watermelon, there is a Vice for every season. So, as we board that bullet train that will speed us from San Diego Beer Week (November 4-13 in case you hadn’t heard) to New Year’s Eve, we’re spotlighting the iteration best suited for the holiday season: Vice CranZu. No, you didn’t miss the introduction of some new hybrid fruit or Ocean Spray beverage. “CranZu” is a product of the Bills’ collective imagination, a mixture of cranberries and a variety of Japanese citrus called yuzu. Added in quantities that rival Santa Claus in terms of generosity, these adjuncts combine to add orangey sweetness balanced by a tannic bitterness and an almost floral hint of lemon zest. When combined with the spritzy, acidic Berliner weisse base, this beer hits the palate much like a Red Rooster, a cranberry-orange vodka cocktail I enjoy during the holidays. Of course, Vice CranZu is far less alcoholic, meaning you’re way more likely to stay off the naughty list with this fruited sour that’s as natural a fit for the holidays as turkey or mistle toe.

From the Brewery: “Vice CranZu is our seasonal Vice release for the holidays; one of 20 rotating fruited Berliner-weisse beers in our Vice series that we produce each year. It is 5.2% ABV (alcohol-by-volume) with cranberries and Japanese yuzu fruit added. We first named the beers ‘Vice’ to simplify Americans’ attempt to pronounce ‘weisse”. All of our fruited Vices are based off our base Berliner weisse, Vice Sans Fruit, a 3.3 pH (potential of hydrogen) beer that is soured using a traditional Berliner-weisse strain of lactobacillus. This beer won back-to-back gold medals at the Great American Beer Festival in the American Sour Ale category in 2020 and 2021. With this great base-beer to work with, we then fruit post-fermentation with either whole fruit or whole fruit concentrate; no purées, binders or preservatives. A question that I’m commonly asked is ‘how much fruit do you put in your Vices to get that huge fruity punch?’ The answer I like to give is that we put in a fiscally irresponsible amount of fruit. Every one of our Vices have been designed so they not only taste exactly as advertised, but with little unique subtle twists. Vice CranZu has that intense Yuzu citrus flavor with tart cranberry notes throughout, tart on tart. That combination makes it the perfect foil to cut through all those rich, heavy holiday foods. It’s a great pairing for everything on your Thanksgiving table. Vice CranZu is one of my favorite Vices we produce.”–Bill Sysak, Co-founder & CEO, Wild Barrel Brewing