Good beer is best with friends. That goes for drinking it, and it also goes for brewing it. We’re back from Snohomish where we got to brew an experimental pale ale with our friends at Sound to Summit Brewing!

Mountain Bee IPA—their summit and our bees—is a thiolized pale ale. What does thiolized mean? Well you can click the link above for the full chemistry lesson, but the quick version is that it’s brewed with a special yeast that releases thiols from precursors found in the hops. Thiols are the compound found in hops responsible for tropical fruit aromas such as passion fruit, guava, and grapefruit. And this beer is all about them thiols!

We started with a basic pale ale recipe with pale, biscuit, and crystal malts, then added a couple sacks of flaked barley and even some Cascade hops to the mash because they can both help increase the level of thiol precursors that the yeast can work with. We added a light dry hop of Galaxy and Comet to compliment the tropical aroma, and are really excited about the results.

First impression in the glass is a lightly hazy appearance, but not far behind it is the big passion fruit aroma, even from across the bar top. The passion fruit is joined on the palate by mango and grapefruit, with a light crackery finish.

Mountain Bee will be available on tap at Sound to Summit, as well as select accounts in the Seattle area. Keep an eye on social media for where these kegs are popping up!