Page 48 - Beverage Master_JuneJuly 2021

International News
things: experimentation and quality. The two brew-
ers started RBW in September 2019 after quitting
their day jobs and quickly started playing around
with different concepts for their beer. They’d both
used traditional and non-traditional methods of
brewing, incorporating slow-fermentation tech-
niques, wild yeast strains and an array of different
ingredients. They experimented with beer-wine
hybrids, wild-foraged edibles and have even used
gelatin in some of their beer. By playing with tech- to draw attention to the brewery. Their primary
niques and styles, RBW has managed to catch the
attention of craft beer lovers across Ontario.
The craft beer scene within Ontario is vast and
spans across the entire province. There are micro-
breweries in some of the smallest towns in Ontario, sour red ales to maple barrel-aged pastry stouts.
and craft beer lovers will travel great distances to
find the latest and greatest that breweries have to
offer. Hunter and Duimering opened their brewery
with this concept in mind. They knew if they had
something on their roster that was a must-try, it
would put their small brewery on the map for peo-
ple touring the craft beer circuit.
The release of Reverence Slrrp! Blue in December
2020 did just that. Hunter and Duimering created
an 8% ABV, slightly soured blonde ale with the
“natural flavor of blue” and the addition of gela-
tin, giving the beer a texture similar to unset jello.
Although not something most people would care
to drink every day, it was something that everyone
wanted to try.
“People drink with their eyes,” said Duimering.
“When you’re scrolling through Instagram, you’re
used to scrolling past a picture of beer, a picture of
beer, and now there’s a picture of this blue bever-
46 June - July 2021 BEVERAGE MASTER
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age in front of you. You stop scrolling immediate-
ly.”
Slrrp! Blue sold out quickly and was followed by
Slrrp! Green and Slrrp! Red. The beers were some-
thing people felt they needed to try, and because
they were produced in small batches, they sold out
quickly after each release. Although successful, the
Slrrp! series was more of a gimmick for Reverence
focus is on producing more traditional beers with a
modern flair.
Hunter and Duimering have experimented with
a wide range of styles, from red wine barrel-aged
They use natural fermentation methods for their
beer, so patience is a virtue when creating their
products. Some beers take a few months to pro-
duce; others will stay in barrel for years. In the end,
it’s all about quality and ingenuity.
Since releasing their Slrrp! series, the brewers
have gone on to partner with local wineries to cre-
ate beer-wine hybrids using several grape varietals
and brewing techniques. They chose to work with
wineries that share their similar vision and values.
They wanted to pair with like-minded people also
focused on creating quality products that represent
the region and reflect the unique terroir and cli-
mate of Ontario.
Hunter and Duimering decided to source grapes
from Traynor Family Vineyard in Prince Edward
County, Ontario, for their beer-wine hybrid “Glou
Glou Marquette.” The Traynor Vineyard is a small
winery focused on sustainable permaculture,
hand-harvesting their grapes and using natural, low
intervention winemaking techniques. The brewers
used Marquette grapes from the Traynor Vineyard
and added them to a blend of golden sour ales. The
beer spent five months in puncheons resting on
the grapes, giving it a deep color and slight tannin.
With rich flavors of red cherry and black raspber-
ry, this hybrid beverage drinks more like a pét-nat
wine than a traditional beer.
Duimering said he loves working in this hybrid
style that expresses the terroir and uses natural
fermentation. “We don’t want to be pitching just
wine yeast strains into our beer because I can go
buy those commercial strains,” he said. “We want
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