This Sunday, August 23, Former Future Brewing Company will release the next beer in its highly anticipated Black Project Series. The Dreamland Sour Golden Ale will debut at noon. The beer will be sold in wax-dipped 750mL bottles and the brewery will also be holding a tasting of the beer. For those who would like to purchase a bottle here are the juicy details.

Doors to the brewery will open at noon. Anyone who is IN LINE when the doors open is guaranteed at least one bottle. There is a five bottle limit for those wanting to purchase more, and each bottle will cost $18. Protocol for the morning is that anyone in line at noon will get a ticket that is good for one bottle, so the brewery can assure everyone there will get at least one. If any extra bottles remain after everyone with a ticket gets through, then those who want more can purchase more then. Those who sleep in and arrive after noon on Sunday will most likely miss out.

The Black Project brewing series has become so popular that the owners of Former Future created a separate company to handle these experimental beers, Black Project Spontaneous & Wild Ales. These ales are created by capturing wild microbes from the air in a coolship (see previous article The Story Behind Former Future Brewing Company). The project operates out of the Former Future Brewery and has maxed out its production area. Due to the nature of the brewing, fermenting, and aging process, it takes a lot of space to make these beers happen.

“Keeping up with the demand for these beers is what keeps me awake at night,” says Former Future founder James Howat. “Most of the beers I make average over eight months of aging, plus an additional one month minimum to bottle condition, so it takes a proportionately massive amount of aging capacity to keep up with demand.”

The company has been releasing bottles approximately every 2 to 4 months since debuting a year ago and more expansion in under way. The company has added more barrels and six large 15bbl/550gal fermentation and aging vessels. This will help keep future releases more consistent. Howat says more equipment will be needed soon, however.

“We are actively speaking with several custom fabricators to install a more permanently mounted 160-gallon vessel on our roof, as well as a small roof and screens to protect the cooling wort from rain and pests while still allowing the Rocky Mountain wind to breeze through, depositing what we feel are some of the best and most unique mix of truly wild fermentation microbes being used in spontaneous ales worldwide.”

The ale release this Sunday will also be the last one to have wax-dipped bottles. Future Black Project Ales will be corked and caged.  

Photo by Carrie Dow