Sager Beer Works sour ales tap into cocktails and liqueurs

Rochester brewery known for its pretzel and German-style offerings releases first two sour ales

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Now entering his 10th year as a commercial brewer, Paul Guarracini, co-founder and head brewer at Rochester’s Sager Beer Works, is proof you can teach an old dog new tricks.

(And don’t worry, Paul gladly accepts that moniker.)

Guarracini opened Sager, 46 Sager Drive Suite E, in 2018 with partner Don Tuminelli. It sits right near the intersection of University Avenue and Culver Road, just behind Living Roots Winery.

The cozy, comfortable brewpub features all the hallmarks of your favorite neighborhood bar (without the intrusion of televisions and the need to yell over the din). With a central beer garden-style table, lounge seating in one corner, and stools overlooking the 5-barrel brewhouse system, it’s a place that encourages conversation. You’ll also find the best brewery pretzel in town at Sager. Using locally sourced ingredients, the food perfectly pairs with the beer.

So it’s fitting that through the pandemic, Guarracini began to examine what he does best (clean, classic German-style beers and other traditional styles) and what he could stand to do better (producing styles he had never tackled before).

Through collaborations with Adam Burnett at Eli Fish Brewing in Batavia and Nate Kester and Bobby Baker at Irondequoit Beer Co., Guarracini learned the ins and outs of producing kettle sours, quick turnaround thirst-quenchers often soured through the introduction a specialized yeast.

Photo: Sager Beer Works co-founder Paul Guarracini pours a sample of the brewery’s first kettle sour during a recent visit.

Through the first few years of its existence, Sager always had a sour on draft. But it was from another brewery, in the form of a guest tap. Guarracini said the brewery wanted to have something for everyone. And it did. You’d be hard pressed to find a brewery in Monroe County with more variety. The draft list often features traditional styles like an English nut brown ale or a Helles lager. You’re apt to find more obscure styles here, too. (Remember Brut IPAs?)

As those guest kegs got more and more expensive and as Guarracini gained more experience with making sours through collaboration, he realized he could surely brew them for Sager and he could have a lot of fun doing it.

“I like to be authentic, so I did a few collabs to see how others were doing it,” Guarracini said. “And what I learned is that these aren’t that hard to make, but there is a different set of techniques that goes along with it. Like how you balance the fruit and the acidity, there’s a skill there. And the other thing I learned is that I hadn’t been drinking enough of them to understand what I liked or what fit us. Donuts or cereal in your beer, those thick smoothies, I was never going to do that.”

Remembering the traditional framboises or krieks from Europe and inspired by the fruited beers from Wisconsin craft heavyweight New Glarus, Guarracini reconsidered. He determined he wanted his sours to “be more beer-like.”

With Eli Fish, Sager made a Limoncello-inspired sour ale. Guarracini recreated that beer in one of his first attempts at a sour. Named Paulo’s Limoncello, it comes in at 5.2 percent alcohol and drinks like the Italian lemony liqueur. It has just a touch of sweetness and a little bit fuller flavor than expected thanks to the hint of vanilla. The Sager sour really is an ideal summery treat.

Sager’s second sour, Paulo’s Bellini, is packed with fresh peach and has a more pronounced fruit character than its lemony counterpart. It also comes in at 5.2 percent and the stone fruit really shines. Both sours are supremely balanced and drinkable, both hallmarks of Sager beers.

“We wanted to make sure we didn’t get away from who we are and still add something to the beer world,” Guarracini said.

Expect more entries in this same cocktail-inspired vein. Guarracini said the possibilities are endless and he’s eager to explore more.

“Drinkability is always key for me,” Guarracini said. “Our motto here has always been, ‘Drink, eat, relax.’ The sours connect with our DNA. I think in the future our other sours will be similar.”

The brewery also hosts regular trivia nights, live music, and other events such as its upcoming Collab Fest on July 15.

Sager Beer Works, 46 Sager Drive Suite in Rochester, is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.; 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday; noon to 10 p.m. Saturday; and 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday.

One final note

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