Keypunch
Oct 06, 2026
Key Lime Gose
- Style: Gose
- Fruit: Key lime, hand-sliced and zested
- ABV: 4.3%
- Status: Retired
The first one
Keypunch was the first fruited beer we ever made. Everything else in this Archive with fruit in it comes after.
In 2015 we were brewing a tart gose, and it was good, and we wanted to see what would happen if we put fruit in it. We chose key limes. Somebody sliced them by hand and somebody zested them by hand, and 160 pounds of them went into the batch. What came out tasted enough like a good idea that we've been putting fruit in beer ever since.
The name
We wanted a beer name that was also an artifact: an old object with a job that most people have forgotten. A keypunch is the machine that punched holes into paper cards so early computers could read them. It fit, so we used it, and then we had to find another one for the next beer. That search has turned out to be an endless project.
The label
The keypunch operator is one of our oldest illustrations, and one of the longest in use. Scott drew her on a sheet of scrap paper, took a photo of it with his phone, and that photo is how she got into the computer and onto the can. There was no second draft. She has been at her machine ever since.
The variants
Keypunch was a regular base for variants: Vanilla Keypunch in 2017 and 2018, Keylime Pie with vanilla, lactose, cinnamon and oats, TeaPunch with green tea, and Lime Salsa, the spicy one, with peppers, cilantro, green onions and peppercorns. The salsa came back as a Small Batch can in 2023 and again in 2025.
Keypunch is retired.
