30th Anniversary Series: The Fruits of Your Neighbor - Marionberry Tart Ale
Golden Valley Brewery and Pub

cool they did a bunch of bombers for their big anniversary, and even cooler that they were as inexpensive as they were at the brewery when we visited, i loaded up! this is a lager done with marionberries, and its quite good, one of the more ambitious and exotic things we had from these guys, neat little recipe and very fruit forward, nice in high summer. a lovely pinkish purple tone to this, pretty clear with some shine, very little head after a few minutes but not really under carbonated. the fruit is natural to me, tangy in the nose, a little more jammy and sweet for a second in the flavor, with complimentary blackberry, black currant, and even blueberry notes as various intervals. its vinous in the nose, somewhat tannic, mouthwatering, but there is some fruit sugar on the palate as well. i can appreciate some lager yeast in this but not a ton from the grain, its a little bit one note with the fruit, minimal nuance around it, which leaves it feeling almost incomplete overall, but the fruit aspect is lovely and honest, and i like the tang. the low alcohol is also a cool feature, and this is real drinkable, if a tad thin. fun and different with it being a lager, fancy without being super strong or barrel aged which is also clever. real generous pricing here too, i think i paid just three bucks for the bottle at the brewery, not even sure how thats possible in this day and age, and this certainly punches well above that price weight!