“So, it all started as a joke.”
That is American Solera head brewer Matt Denham, beginning the story of one of the oddest concoctions of 2020—from any brewery, not just this one. The drink in question is PSS, a bourbon barrel–aged, pumpkin pie puree–flavored hard seltzer that he conceived with brewery founder Chase Healey. It’s available in half-liter bottles, capped with wax that has been infused with pumpkin-spice aromas.
Is this really American Solera? Is this the brewery that Healey started four years ago as a stolid chapel to spontaneous, mixed-fermentation, and barrel-aged beers?