Plumage
Melvin Brewing

Taster at Hops & Bottles. Dark golden, cloudy pour, sparse head. Aroma is flowery, yeasty. Taste comes in tart, bready, yeasty flavors support from the back. Finishes tart as well, mild pucker.

i always thought to myself that melvin didnt do enough of this sort of thing, the mixed fermentation in oak type, so i was pumped to see this one, done with plums and ginger and citrus, really well done, woody and mature, lively and tart, interesting and not overdone on the extras, wild beer first, impressively good for being so far outside of their conventional wheelhouse. lightly pink from the tap but more orange, an airy almost inch of head rises and quickly settles back, and there is some haze to this but also a ton of effervescence so it looks and feels very vibrant. the nose and taste are close, tart not just from the bacterial element in the fermentation but from the skins of the plum and the lemon too, not sharp, not vinegar, but some steady pucker here. the plum is lightly floral, springy, makes this seem almost delicate, certainly not too fruity overall, and the fruits are overpowered by the oak a little bit, seems almost like a new oak vibe, that fresh lumber thing, maybe a hint of cedar emerging too with the bretty funk this has as it warms. i like this a lot, tons of flavor, softly spicy from the ginger but well restrained overall. the fermentation profile is different enough too to make this stand out from the crowd and make me want more wild beer from melvin. great job with this!