Matthew Curling / Owner and Brewmaster, Variant Brewing Company, Roswell, Georgia
Collaborative one-offs are the playground of independent craft brewers. They give like-minded brewers a chance to share new learnings and let customers feel the thrill of tasting something exclusive.
Variant Brewing Company in Roswell, Georgia, is continuously experimenting with variations on its year-round and seasonal beers like its base Gose ale brewed with The Perfect Purée Lychee Puree.
“This beer was also brewed with passion fruit and was a Gose-style ale, so there was a lot going on,” says Variant’s owner and brewmaster, Matt Curling.
Brewed in collaboration with Heaven & Ale Brewing Co. in Chattanooga, Tennessee, GalapaGose is as uncommon as the fruit that inspired it with a complex salty-sweet, tart, tropical and floral flavor profile. Heady aromas of tropical fruit give way to flavors of papaya, guava, pineapple, passion fruit, lychee, mango and orange citrus.
Matt added thawed Lychee Puree to the beer post-fermentation and allowed it to referment for an additional 72 hours before crashing the tank and racking the beer into the brite tank for packaging. Aside from a keg or two that was distributed to local bars, GalapaGose was enjoyed in Variant’s tasting room.
Variant was founded in late 2017 as Matt’s passion-turned-profession in his hometown of Roswell. Located in a bright, airy space that’s a short walk from a busy retail district, Variant’s taproom has the feeling of a thoughtfully re-designed warehouse or train station with high ceilings braced by large metal trusses. The centerpiece of the taproom’s clean, modern aesthetic is a highly-polished bar framed in natural wood to match the ceiling. Consistently high reviews rate Variant as one of Georgia’s best emerging craft breweries.
The menu of year-round and seasonal beers on tap includes a section titled “Variants” where visitors can find the same Gose refermented with boysenberries or guava (“Rico Guave”) or a German Helles lager conditioned with lime zest.
Matt is captivated by the creative side of brewing and says Variant is inspired by the idea of creating two or more different beers from a single brew with the addition of fruits, spices, vegetables or nuts.