Beer Review - Surabat Valley Harvest Brew

Surabat Valley Harvest Brew

I’m a pretty big Star Wars fan…but I have no idea where Surabat Valley is!

Apparently, it’s a tiny settlement on Battuu known for its wildness and remote location. It’s named after Ariana Surabat, an explorer who helped discover Batuu and helped establish it as an important trading post in the Other Rim. And as someone who has read books on Galaxy’s Edge and been there several times, well this is all new to me! This shows that while Disney created a unique Star Wars world, they may not have set up a story to share the land's secrets. But hey, is “Surabat Valley Harvest Brew”, the secret gem of Star Wars’ beers?

“Surabat Valley Harvest Brew” is a 4.5 ABV, 7 IBU gose kettle sour style beer. It is described as tart, salty, with a watermelon flavor. Honestly, many kettle sours for me can be fundamentally just tart and puckery. I have friends and family who love these styles, but for many of them, I grab it, my lips pucker and I’ve had my one sip. “Surabat Valley Harvest Brew” for me however didn’t create the physical puckering. It does have a light tartness to it, which let me know it is gose. It also has a light watermelon flavor to it that is matched with saltiness and reminds me of being a kid and sprinkling salt on fresh-cut watermelon. And then the third flavor of beer backs up the entire brew, yes it has beer flavor in this beer.

The brew is crafted by Terrapin Beer Co., which also makes “Hawkes’ Grog Ale”. While they may not have the corner on sci-fi specialty beers, they do seem to own the corner on fruity-styled space beers. “Surabat Valley Harvest Brew” does a much better job of featuring the fruit than Avatarbeer, which is shockingly still not blue.

The warning is always, sour can mean lots of things. Some sours, like gose and berliner weisse, can be truly puckery and too much for some. But if you have been buying a lot of sours loaded with fruit or milkshake style, they could be more like a fruit juice or smoothie, so read your menus carefully. This beer is not a smoothie, it’s a beer.

Who Drinks This? You’re at Oga’s Cantina or picking up a Ronto Wrap at the stand on Batuu. Batuu is always hot, there are two suns. So you want something refreshing, light, and fruity, this is your beer. It does have tones of beer, but it’s not going to weigh you down in the same way as a “Bad Motivator IPA” my favorite Star Wars beer. Sour fans, of the puckery kind, can also enjoy it as they will get that tartness. For some, it could be an entry-level sour-style beer. It is worth a try, but likely not for everyone.

But if you want a beer that screams Star Wars lore, you will likely ask yourself Ariana who and reach for a different galactic brew.