Homebrew: How Sour Became Made in Germany

What is Homebrew?

Homebrew is the culmination of years of dreaming and scheming, planning, meeting, and speaking with to other industry professionals. Slowly we built steam on what we were calling “Project Homebrew”, and a dream became reality.

Homebrew is our project name for on-shoring all of our frame production to our own facility in Saxony, Germany.

We had been working with our production partner in Taiwan for years, first with the original parent company of Sour, and then after Sour took over sole ownership. We’ve had many great years with the professionals in Taiwan and continure to work with them today, just in a different capacity. Whereas previously our frame were made in Taiwan, nowadays we make every here in Saxony, just with our producer supplying us with our Sour-specific tubing and cast parts. It’s a great relationship.

Staring with the very first mountain bike frames in the heart of the COVID pandemic, we hit the ground running… maybe literally, it was a steep learning curve. We called on all the expertise and knowledge here in Dresden and the surrounding areas, and with their help, we were able to build our facility up to what you could even call a “factory” today, and slowly production numbers followed.

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Where it started

When we set out on this project, we didn’t even have a name for it, “Homebrew” came much later. When we set out, it didn’t need name, because we were convinced that this was right move, and nearly a year further our efforts only continue to be confirmed. All of this spun out of a love for bikes, and a pile of steel tubing.

Homebrew was spun out of so many feelings, frustrations, a post-ride beers, and maybe just a little bit of looking into a crystal ball. Throughout the two years of the COVID pandemic we all saw demand skyrocket, and supply plummet, and although the smaller brands who produce locally were slowed down, they kept on trucking. Much like tons of other companies, Sour relied on Asia for its products, but the global supply chain was so overloaded, every step of the way became a major victory in the challenge of getting frames to your doorsteps. For us, the writing was on the wall, and that dream of bringing frame production to Germany? Yeah, that dream was looking mighty realistic, and the time was ripe to jump on the move.

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Where it’s going

When we set out on this project, we know it’d be a lot of work, a lot. And, well, it appears that you can never overestimate the amount of work when moving production halfway across the world in a time of one global crisis after another! But, we did it. We did it and we’re proud to say that Sour Bicycles is Made in Germany! Thanks to everyone that helped, waited and waited, and for everyone believing in us!

Stay Sweet, Ride Sour!
<3 Team Sour