Passing Clouds

Passing Clouds was MURI's first blend, developed in 2020, with Murray Paterson spending countless hours tasting and iterating to reach the final recipe. It is built on a blending technique in which each of its five components is treated and fermented separately — with variations in temperature, acidity, concentration, and fermentation time — before being combined. A kvass element was developed specifically to achieve the brioche flavour common in champagne. Paterson describes Passing Clouds as MURI's gold-standard blend, noting that it is difficult to blend because of a tiny sweet spot where all components must align.^[1],[2]

Name. MURI names the blend after a former nightclub in East London.^[1]

Declared ingredients: water, white currant juice, gooseberry juice (11.5%), quince (9%), wheat malt (gluten), sugar, jasmine, woodruff (0.01%), salt, geranium, and yeast. The blend is composed of five components: a quince kefir, a white currant wine, a jasmine tea infusion, a geranium kvass, and a woodruff infusion. MURI describes the quince, geranium, and jasmine elements as intended to give the blend a profound floralness.^[1],[3]

Quince Kefir — Backbone. The quince kefir is made by grinding fresh quince, infusing it in water, and fermenting the mix with water kefir grains. This produces an aromatic liquid with lactic creaminess and slight acidity that serves as the backbone of the drink. De Maison Selections describes the quince water kefir as lending a fruit-forward palate. MURI sources quince from a small-scale farmer named Eva on the island of Møn, approximately one hour south of Copenhagen.^[3]

White Currant Wine — Acidity. The white currant wine is made from white currant juice sourced from a farmer named Niels in Thy, on the west coast of Denmark, fermented with a special yeast into a non-alcoholic white currant wine. MURI describes it as carrying a floral aroma and rounded acidity.^[3]

Jasmine Tea Infusion — Aromatics. The jasmine tea infusion uses sencha green tea aromatised with jasmine flowers from Grasse in the South of France. It is cold-infused to preserve the floral aroma while extracting only a small amount of tannins and no bitterness. De Maison Selections notes the organic cold-brewed jasmine tea accentuates the aromatics. Because of this tea, Passing Clouds is the only MURI product to contain caffeine.^[3],[4]

Geranium Kvass — Structure & Depth. The geranium kvass contributes a floral yet sweet aroma, providing structure and depth to the final blend. MURI's kvass is made with caramel malt brewed almost like a beer but not boiled, then fermented with a sourdough starter rather than old sourdough bread. De Maison Selections describes caramel malt inoculated with sourdough starter and then infused with geranium and foraged woodruff to lend autolytic, toasty-brioche notes reminiscent of Champagne.^[3],[5]

Woodruff Infusion — Honey & Marzipan. The woodruff (Galium odoratum) is foraged by the MURI team from a forest near Sorø, Denmark, where it grows as a ground cover through summer. It contributes warm honey and almond notes, described elsewhere as a honey hint with a touch of marzipan. MURI forages woodruff from spring through summer to maintain a year-round supply, and the producer notes that it also sources woodruff via a herbal expert named Paulinna who forages and supplies bundles of plants. Murray Paterson personally participates in foraging woodruff for Passing Clouds.^[3],[4]

Gooseberry — Fermented Component. According to De Maison Selections, gooseberries in Passing Clouds are fermented with Pichia kluyveri yeast before being enriched with organic gooseberry juice; the yeast provides aromatic floral notes while the gooseberry wine lends acidity.^[5]

According to De Maison Selections, the various layers of Passing Clouds are blended together in stainless steel tanks before being carbonated to 2.5 bar.^[5]

Nose. MURI describes a heady nose of flowers, honey, and ripe fruits.^[1]

Palate. Sparkling and refreshing, with bright acidity. The palate is dry but carries multiple dimensions of flavour and a vinous funkiness. MURI positions it as sitting somewhere between a pet-nat, a light beer, and a cider.^[1]

Structure. ^[1]

• Sweetness: dry
• Acidity: bright
• Complexity: multiple dimensions of flavour, a vinous funkiness

At POPL, Noma's burger restaurant, Passing Clouds is used as a topping component in a non-alcoholic Red Spritz cocktail, a take on a floral gin-based sour. It has appeared in a cocktail called Banana Split, built with homemade banana spirit, cold brew coffee, MURI Koji Rice Series 1, and MURI Passing Clouds.^[6]

For food, MURI recommends shellfish and oysters, white-rinded cheeses, ceviche, and spicy Asian dishes such as laksa, som tam, and spicy Asian salads.^[7]

Specifications. Passing Clouds is classified as a non-alcoholic sparkling white beverage (Danish: alkoholfri frugtvin) with an ABV of less than 0.5%.^[1]

• Classification: non-alcoholic sparkling white (DK: alkoholfri frugtvin)
• ABV: less than 0.5%
• Carbonation: 2.5 bar

Production. Passing Clouds has been on the menu at a notable venue more or less continuously since 2020. MURI has experimented with a sparkling bottle fat-washed with wild rose butter.^[1]

Ingredients Policy. Passing Clouds is vegan. It contains gluten (from wheat malt) and may contain sulfites.^[1]