Sour beer – you either love it or you hate it.

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Many self-proclaimed beer experts argue that sour beer can’t even be called beer, and they actually have a point. In 1516, in what is now Bavaria, one of the world’s oldest food laws was introduced – the Reinheitsgebot. The purpose was to ensure the quality of beer and to prevent the use of bad ingredients.

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According to the German purity law, beer could only contain malt (barley), hops, and water. Yeast wasn’t mentioned in the original version, because people didn’t know it was part of the process back then. Today, yeast is also approved.

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Our new sour beer – The Zest Nest – is an ale-fermented beer with a generous dose of lemon juice. In other words, we use malt, hops, yeast, water, and lemon juice – which means that, according to the German purity law, we’re not allowed to call it beer. But we do it anyway – we call it sour beer!

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What if we really followed the laws from the early 1500s today? According to an English law from the Middle Ages, you wouldn’t even be allowed to wear a fake moustache in church, or “slay a dragon.” Boring, right? So crack open a cold The Zest Nest this summer and enjoy your freedom.