Pleroma
Brewery: Omnipollo (Stockholm, Sweden)
Style: Sour-Fruited
6% ABV / N/A IBU

“Pleroma” is the Greek term for the totality of divine powers, a suggestion of oneness with the universe. It is, quite literally, Godhead, or a definitive expression of divinity. That’s a pretty cocksure name for any product, but Omnipollo’s raspberry crème brulee sour is as blindingly brilliant as the contents of the Ark of the Covenant. Omnipollo’s Pleroma is somewhere between a fruited sour and an American wild ale and achieves its unique character with raspberries introduced in fermentation and crème brulee represented by lactose sugar (a la a milk stout) and, of course, vanilla.

The history behind Omnipollo is pretty interesting. The brewery is in its 9th year of operation and remains driven by two individuals, brewerHenok Fentie (responsible for devising Pleroma’s recipe) and artist/designer Karl Grandin (who contributed the wildly psychedelic can art). Omnipollo stays agile because it is a gypsy – or to be more politically correct, contract – brewing operation. Pleroma is actually brewed at the Boston-based Dorchester Brewing Company, a rental brewery where world-class brewers like Omnipollo and Denmark’s Evil Twin Brewing Which, since it’s expensive to ship palettes of cans across the ocean, means it’s just that much easier for you to birth a better beer belly.

Pleroma is actually a bit reminiscent of pink grapefruit – which is absolutely not an ingredient – due in part to the chemical reaction between the lactose sugar and the raspberries. Pleroma is crisp, sour, refreshing, and a very different context for raspberries than a berliner weisse (typically served mixed with a raspberry syrup) or a kriek (super low-alcohol beer brewed with berries, like Lindeman’s Framboise Lambic). Those things are all about the fruit, whereas Pleroma is all about the acidity, offering a dazzling interpretation of what a fruited sour really can be.