Good Beer Company Gild the Lilly
Good Beer Company Gild the Lilly is a 750mL mixed-culture ale brewed with California guavas by The Good Beer Company of Santa Ana, California — oak-barrel aged, dry and funky in the brewery's farmhouse tradition. A bottle from one of Orange County's most admired mixed-culture programs, it is available to order online at Del Mesa Liquor.
- Size: 750mL
- Style: Mixed-culture ale with fruit
- Fruit: California guavas (per the listing's producer line)
- Aging: Oak-barrel aged
- Origin: Santa Ana, California
A Santa Ana Mixed-Culture Original
The Good Beer Company set up in Santa Ana's historic Santora Arts Building in 2014 — Brandon Fender and Robyn Spevacek's home for coolship-spawned, barrel-aged mixed-culture ales at a time when Orange County farmhouse brewing barely existed. Gild the Lilly comes from that program: a house mixed culture, time in oak barrels, and California guavas folded into a dry, funky ale. The brewery's Santa Ana chapter has since closed, which makes sound bottles like this one finite. Find more craft beer, see the brewery on the Good Beer Company vendor page, or pair it with its dark sibling, Good Beer Company Two Fruits.
Tasting Notes
Character: Dry and funky, per the brewery's own line — mixed-culture tartness and barnyard funk under tropical guava fruit. Palate: Light, crisp and sour-leaning, with the fruit riding the funk rather than sweetening it. Finish: Dry and refreshing.
How to Enjoy
Serve it cold in a wine glass or tulip, poured gently off its lees. Mixed-culture ales love fatty, funky food — washed-rind cheese, charcuterie and grilled seafood all work.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a mixed-culture ale? An ale fermented with a house blend of yeasts and bacteria — typically brewer's yeast alongside Brettanomyces and lactic-acid bacteria — rather than a single clean strain, which produces the dry, funky, tart character this style is known for.
What fruit is in Gild the Lilly? California guavas, per the producer line on the listing — a tropical fruit that plays against the ale's dry funk. The shelf bottle's label is the final word at apply time.
Is The Good Beer Company still open? Its Santa Ana brewery is listed as closed; the founders' later work moved toward a wild-fermentation project near Julian. Bottles like this one are from the Santa Ana era and are finite.
A finite bottle from a beloved program — get Good Beer Company Gild the Lilly at Del Mesa Liquor in San Diego, CA, while it lasts.