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Ex Novo's Kill the Sun returns with four past variants, hoodie
When the days get shorter and the nights get longer — well, that’s when the beers get darker.
At least that’s the philosophy behind Ex Novo Brewing Company’s Kill the Sun release, a bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout that comes out annually during the winter. Ex Novo will celebrate the 10th anniversary of Kill the Sun by resurrecting four of the top variants from the past decade: Grand Cru, Horchata, Coconut Chocolate Almond and Dirty Chai.
“Because it’s our 10th year, we’re doing our favorites,” Joel Gregory, Ex Novo founder, said. “We’re not doing any new variants we’ve never done before. We kind of went through the last six or so years, and everybody weighed in on their favorites and customer favorites based on feedback, rate of sale and the market in general.
“We’ve done over a dozen different varieties over the years. And (we’re) really excited about what we’re looking at, just bringing back the ones that we know were big hits and making some tweaks based on previous notes that we made on those, as well. So it’ll be even better.”
What starts out as a 20-barrel batch eventually yields 11 after aging, and that will translate to approximately 30 cases of each variety, according to Gregory. The four Kill the Sun versions will be available on Dec. 12 both in bottles and on draft at both Ex Novo taprooms. Due to the limited supply, this release almost inevitably sells out each year. The beer has enough of a fanbase that it comes with its own hoodie — which can be purchased separately or in conjunction with a Kill the Sun gift box featuring one bottle of each variant.
“I saw someone in Costco (recently) who recognized me, asking me when it was coming out and the flavors and all that,” Gregory said. “It’s got a cult following for sure, the people that come out for it every year. That’s what’s so exciting about it, is just looking forward to that day. We plan months in advance, a lot of meetings, a lot of discussion on getting this right because it’s a huge part of our brand, even if it’s a very small amount of beer relative to what we do normally day-to-day with our core stuff.”
“It’s really kind of a fun specialty project.”
Kill the Sun originated in Oregon, before Ex Novo expanded to the Land of Enchantment. It initially began as a standard barrel-aged stout before expanding into different varieties. The beers are aged in new whiskey bourbon barrels and some that are reused from the previous year.
“We reuse some of them because a second-use bourbon barrel has a totally different flavor profile,” Gregory said. “So we like the mix of those two, of like a first and a second-use turn.”
The beer itself is made a year in advance, and the Ex Novo team usually meets in late summer to discuss what type of variants they would like to produce. The end result is always something that just seems to fit the time of year.
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“I really do think it’s that turning of the season mindset. People start to think about drinking,” Gregory said. “You’re not out there on a sunny day just drinking to have a cold drink in your hand. You’re maybe thinking a little bit more about the flavor profiles and especially some of the things that are a little bit bigger and more decadent. It just translates to the season and around the holidays, people are really interested in sharing beers like this.”
