When you think of an actual cooperative, or corn, or Minnesota, this beer probably isn’t the first thing you have in mind. Even if the name “Flyover Country” is what you think of when you think of corn and Minnesota.
This beer comes from the developing mixed culture series at Fair State Brewing Cooperative, a Minneapolis brewery that opened in 2014 and is one of a few coop breweries in the country. The beer itself takes its name from the locally-minded ingredients. There’s a lot in here, including Minnesota-grown Cascade hops, but more notably from the local microbes that influenced the fermentation process as the beer came of age inside Minnesota-made oak barrels.
The end result is also fitting of Minnesota: It’s surprisingly balanced, a bit earthy and with subtle surprises. It’s different, but non-confrontational. So Midwest.
Pouring with a slight haze, this straw-colored beer is super effervescent and carries a bouquet of green apple, and a hint of peach and acidic tartness. The aroma gives the impression that this is to be a tart puckering beer, but it’s not.
Instead, it matches the aromatics but in a tempered, soft sensation that’s easy on the tongue and almost soft at the back end where it finishes with a mild lemon and green apple sourness. On first taste, there’s a quick, sharp tartness that quickly transitions into a medley of tropical fruits with a soothing, damp earthiness at its foundation. That moves into a sour Granny Smith apple and the subtle touch of sweet corn starch that both balances it out and coats the tongue for a soft finish.
Flyover Country is a mild sour beer that blends wild yeast strains, notable tartness and a hint of funk in an accessible and balanced beer that’s both complex and extremely crisp.
Brewery: Fair State Brewing Cooperative
City: Minneapolis, MN
ABV: 5.2%
Availability: 750 mL bottle, draft
Loren Green is a Minneapolis writer covering beer, music, and more. Follow him on Twitter at @lorenmgreen.