Central City and Redpoint Brewing Co. from Taiwan create the Red Racer Lucky Dog Kumquat Wheat Ale for Chinese New Year

Getting together with Spencer Jemelka from Redpoint Brewing was plenty of fun for the whole Red Racer brewing team.

Our friends at PacRim Distributors initially introduced Gary and Spencer who immediately began coming up with ideas for a beer to celebrate Chinese New Year.

After going back and forth for some time, and after even considering adding Buddha’s Hand to the beer, the guys figured kumquats were the perfect fruit for this lucky new year beer.

Kumquats are traditionally eaten around Chinese New Year when they are in season. Many households have bowls of kumquats around during this time and the fruit symbolizes prosperity for the year to come. The kumquat has an intensely sweet-smelling peel that is actually sweeter than the fruit itself making for a unique flavour profile.

Over 100kg of kumquats went into this brew with Gary, and Zak both taking turns running the fruit through the slicer and filling up the brew bags.

The partially fermented wort was racked into a secondary tank to condition on the fruit and ferment out any of the additional sugars imparted by the kumquats.  The sweet citrus smell filled the brewery that day!

Spencer was stoked about the addition of a heckuva lot of Mosaic hops to the brew in addition to using the lucky fruit and to compliment the stunning flavour of this seasonal fruit.

This epic brew is now available in BC Liquor Stores for a limited time. Enjoy some now or save some to crack open on February 16th for Chinese New Year!