Shrinebuilder¶

Tasted 2026-02-21 · isolate: started

Shrinebuilder, Holy Goat Brewing: super juicy golden sour, 5.6% ABV.

Impression¶

The smell of this beer is amazing; I could not get enough of it. This is the most tropical, flavour-forward beer I have tried, and I loved it. I find some of the Holy Goat beers a bit too aggressively acidic, mostly, I feel, from lactic acid, with only hints of acetic. The tropical aromas did not translate into flavour nearly as prominently, but they were there. If I could make a beer like this, I'd be happy, I thought.

The bugs¶

As told by the brewery on the label: fermented with a mixed culture including a blend of Brettanomyces strains isolated from Belgian lambic producers, showcasing an intense yeast character without fruit additions or hops, with passion fruit, papaya, candied pineapple and apricot flavours.

Having messaged the brewery in the past, I knew a bit about their process, so I assumed the tropical flavours came from the Brett strains. Under the microscope, the dregs held Saccharomyces and Brett cells, plenty of debris and rod-shaped bacteria (single and in pairs). The full story is in the journey.

Decision¶

Isolated: Holy Goat Shrinebuilder - Brett, banked as a single mixed Brett culture (possibly two strains). Despite a lot of effort, I have so far been unable to recreate the pineapple aromas from it; given up for now, but I shall have another go in the future.