The 2019 edition, the 4^th and FINAL Original Soured Ale to be released by Two Metre Tall.  We say the final as, whilst this beverage concept was unique for Australia in its day, what it stands for has been effectively absorbed by the progress of our project.  Back in the beginning, the Cleansing Ale was the “beer-in-progress” of a wild fermentation (generally released at around 6-months of age and constantly changing for the next 2-or-so years post release) and the Original Soured Ale, which was bottled at a minimum of three-years-old, was the flag-in-the-sand showing what depth & complexity could be achieved in beer once the complex and years long processes of naturally occurring fermentation had finally run course.  People had to be shown this basic fact as they had, certainly in those early days, no inclination whatsoever to age beer!

Our project has now evolved such that our base ale – A Tasmanian Wild Ale (which replaced A Cleansing Ale when this brew moved from “yeasted” to spontaneously wild fermentation with the November 2022 release) – is now a solera blend of 20 separate spontaneously wild fermented ales spanning an age range of 5-years and has, in many senses, surpassed what the Original Soured Ale was put in place to communicate on behalf of our project.

But this in no way denigrates nor renders inferior what this ale is and represents.  Much like what happened to a Cleansing Ale, the time for Original Soured Ale has moved on and, both because of this AND because of its fundamental role in the early days of our project it is, in fact, the obvious and most appropriate choice of beverage to be placed in a commemorative, anniversary bottle as we take this year – 2024 – to celebrate achieving twenty years in business. - Two Metre Tall