Pen Druid Fermentation is a 27-acre permaculture operation at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Shenandoah National Park in Rappahannock County, VA. The three brothers Lain, Van and Jennings Carney started Pen Druid in 2015 with Jonathan Staples after the three brothers had been touring in the psych-rock band Pontiak in North America and Europe. Pen Druid focuses on native yeast and spontaneous fermentation of beer using traditional methods employed in Belgium and Germany with the utilization of a coolship and a wood-fired brewhouse. Pen Druid also makes spontaneously fermented natural cider from local apples grown on a ninth-generation-owned family farm in Rappahannock County.
Pen Druid’s spontaneous program is inspired by the traditional brewing methods of the Lambic brewers of the Senne River Valley in Belgium to produce in the tradition of Gueuze (multi-vintage spontaneous beers) and fruited Lambics. Pen Druid does not make Gose which is a lactic beer produced in Leipzig. Nor does the brewery make “kettle sours”. All the spontaneous beers are carbonated using traditional methods by adding small amounts of sugar (wort, honey, dextrose etc) to the beer before packaging. Pen Druid’s fruited spontaneous is traditional. The best beer is used to make the blends. The brewery does not use “saisons” or other non-traditional “sour” beers to blend with fruit.
Pen Druid’s native yeast program produces distinctly original tasting beers. The native yeast the brewery uses was cultured from a small winter flower in 2015 and has been used since. All of the native yeast beers are carbonated either with traditional spunding practices which captures the carbon dioxide being released by the yeast, or by bottle and keg conditioning for superior carbonation and tiny bubbles.
