Drink This Now: Skywave Provisional Saison, by Devil’s Purse Brewing Co.
Devil’s Purse Brewing Co. Skywave Provision Saison. / Photo provided
Devil’s Purse is Cape Cod’s newest brewery, coming up on its one-year anniversary. Last week, the first bottles of Devil’s Purse beer hit Boston-area shelves: Look for Skywave Provisional Saison at Social Wines, Hopsters Alley in the Boston Public Market, and at select Craft Beer Cellar locations.
Located in South Dennis, Devil’s Purse brews mainly European-inspired beers, including an English pale, a German kolsch, and a balanced IPA, among other one-off releases and tasting room-only series. Skywave, a non-traditional Franco-Belgian saison with a distinctive brettanomyces flavor, is now among the brewery’s core, year-round offerings. It’s also Devil’s Purse’s first bottle release.
“Skywave is definitely a recipe that, when we first made it, we thought, ‘We have something here,'” says cofounder and co-brewer Michael Segerson. “We don’t have a flagship, but for me, that’s kind of my heart-and-soul beer.”
The dry-hopped, bottle-conditioned Skywave begins with a French saison yeast, and two brett strains give it a dry, funky effervescence that gets more complex the longer the bottle ages.
“It’s a beer that makes sense to get into the Boston area,” cofounder and co-brewer Matt Belson says. “No. 1, it’s a packaged product. We self-distribute; we’re not in a position to be running kegs up to the Boston area on a regular basis, yet. Skywave is a complex beer; we’re not going to worry about it expiring in a month on the shelf. It can cellar for one to two years. Secondly, it really has the ability to appeal to a lot of different palates in the Boston area: foodies, folks who like funky beers, folks who like saisons.”
Since Devil’s Purse opened its doors last Memorial Day, fans have been asking when they would ship up to Boston. As recently as January, Belson said they’re “still in startup mode, with a focus on Cape Cod and the surrounding communities.”
But over the winter, Devil’s Purse limited its tasting room hours and kicked production “into high gear,” Belson says. “We have to focus on building up inventory in preparation for spring and summer, because if there’s anything we learned last summer, the demand is certainly there. Not only at the brewery, but at local accounts as well.”
And building on the positive reception Skywave has received since its debut in December, it’s only the first bottled beer for Devil’s Purse. A new line of brewery-only bottles, called Sea Trials, is on the way. Referring to the performance tests ships must undergo before going into service, the Sea Trials beers will be different every time.
“Depending upon the reception of [each release], it could make it into larger-scale production,” Belson says.
The tasting room is Devil’s Purse’s testing ground. In the coming months, Sea Trials releases will include a dry-hopped version of the core beer Handline Kolsch, bottle-conditioned with brett yeast; a kettle soured beer with lime zest; and an alternative oaked stout.
Devil’s Purse plans to extend its tasting room hours this spring. With Hog Island Beer Co. opening a brewpub in Orleans this summer, Cape Cod is turning into a beer destination.
In the meantime, find Skywave in 750-mL bottles for $20 MRSP at select locations around Boston.
Devil’s Purse Brewing Co., winter tasting room hours Fridays 2-6 p.m. and Saturdays 12-6 p.m., 120 Great Western Rd., South Dennis, 508-694-7171, devilspurse.com.
