Bind
Anchorage Brewing Company

 

I don't even know what to say about this.
It's in some ways perhaps the best beer I have ever had, but it doesn't feel like beer.
This is basically red wine, and one of the best red wines I have ever had.
It's like a beautiful, fruit forward, full bodied red. Huge notes of blueberry, tart cherry, and other fruit.
It's.... perfect. I ran into the other room and made my wife try some of it.
I only gave it a non 5 because it doesn't "look" like beer.

 

 

A: Pours a beautifully dark crimson red color, and a pink head forms. The foam recedes in a minute with light lace left behind. That color is stunning though.
S: BIG jammy fruits, that range from all kinds of berries..just pick out a berry, its here. To a grape and light vinous aroma. For the most part, simple but excellent.
T: That big jammy berry fruit character is up front. There is certainly a fruity sweetness here, but a bit more sourness and acidic character, a bit more oak, and all fruit. As this warms the acidity builds to be just on the other side of balanced. Though I'd rather this be more acidic than sweet, so that is good for me.
M/O: A full body with moderate carbonation. The tannin woody character is certainly here. This is a slow sipper for me, but a very enjoyable one.

"I prefer boysenberry. More than any ordinary jam. I'm a 'Citizens for Boysenberry Jam' fan." That Simon & Garfunkel lyric line came to my head while drinking this ha. A well done mixed cultured fruit/sour Wild Ale.

 

 

 

 

 

 

poured from a 375mL bottle into a stemmed wine glass. pours a beautiful deep purple with a pinkish / purplish foam head of almost two fingers. jammy as all get out on the nose. cherries, grapes, blueberries and raspberries…. there’s some musty oak to it too as it warms. taste is very jammy as well with tons of fruit and some acidity on the finish. it’s a little tart in the taste but there’s plenty of acidity on the finish. medium-full mouthfeel; fairly dry finish. very enjoyable. not crazy sour but crazy fruit-forward. i liked it best towards the end when it was hitting near room temperature.

375ml bottle. Caged and corked. Etched on bottle is '023038124571B'.
Pours a cherry red color but is dark purple as it sits in the glass. Brief pinkish head, and then there is a thin ring fed by rising bubbles. Some small lacing spots stay around on the drinking side of the glass.
Aroma is heavy with berry. The blueberry I recognize but the haskap is new to me. Hints of raspberry, cherry, and kiwi. Also has a depth of oak barrel. Funk is subdued but in the area of horse blanket and barnyard.
Taste has some sweetness but is mainly tart. Again the berry flavors are strong - blueberry, cherry, raspberry, kiwi, and lemon. The oak and the funk work together to bring out rich, woody, and earthy flavors. There is a rapid flavor fade in the aftertaste, leaving an earthy oak note.
More than medium mouth feel. Dries out the mouth and the teeth with each sip. Good carbonation.
A wild beer with great anti inflammatory attributes from the blueberry and haskap berry.

Poured from a bottle


Appearance - Ruby red body with a fizzy bubbling red head that disappears quickly. Pours for a very excited show and then mellows out rather quickly.

Smell - Berries, pomegranate, grape, sweetness.

Taste - More tart than expected. Some grassy/ earthy tones. Mixed berry flavors. Oak flavors come through while it lingers on the tongue. Somewhat dry on the end.

Feel- Lighter to medium body with lighter carbonation.

Overall - Great beer. Tastes like berry picking in Alaska. Give it a try if you can.

 

Surly, wild and seeming spun with happenstance, Anchorage Brewing picks the local berries of blueberries and haskap berries for a unique taste of spontaneity made in a rough and rudimentary Lambic-like style.

Glowing with a foggy lavender and mauve set of hues, Bind brings an initial spritzy appearance seeming like a darker rosé. A its bubbly cap pops toward stillness, the nose fills with a deep berry perfume with a background of citrus, peppery herbs, funk and fauna. With a sweeter fruit juice character greeting the palate, any sweetness is light and dissolves quickly leaving impression of wafer, honeysuckle and fructose behind.

Plump and juicy with those dark berries providing blueberry, blackberry, black cherry, plum and blackcurrant character on the tastebuds, a brisk acidity breaks up the fruit and what's left of the sweetness with a strong vinous sourness laced with balsamic, red wine and dry cider along with lemon peels, grape skins and a peppery twinge of acetone. Lightly bittered, the session closes with a highly fruity and refreshing dryness.

A dry and peppery finish has this beer seeming very winey with a quick, teeth-churning sourness. Its quick finish is followed with brief echoes of fruit and spicy synthetics in a refreshing and highly drinkable session.

I love how much Anchorage I’ve gotten to try lately because it’s so readily available on Tavour. That being said, it’s been quite some time since I’ve had a Wild Ale from them, and one with blueberries and haskap berries sounds like a nice way to end my night. Let’s pop it open and see what it has to offer

Pours an opaque reddish purple with a finger of reddish pink head that quickly fades to a ring and leaves minimal lacing

The berries in the nose are quite tannic, almost lending a saline character to it. I’m picking up on aromas of blueberry skin, tannic raspberry, lemon zest, sea salt, wet hay, sharp oak, red wine vinegar, and light black currant

It shifts into more of a straight up berry vibe in taste rather than relying on tannins, but it’s still nicely funky. On the front end of the sip I’m tasting tart blueberry, lemon juice, raspberry sorbet, sharp oak, tannic red wine wine, wet hay, and light blackberry. The swallow brings notes of blueberry skin, tart raspberry, lemon juice, sharp oak, leather, red wine vinegar, wet hay, black currant, and a touch of salt

A medium body pairs with moderate carbonation, resulting in a sharp and funky beer. Finishes bone dry and funky

This one is quite aggressive and may put people off, but I really dig it

amazing heavily fruited brew here, funky from the wood vessel, done with blueberries and haskap berries, amazing stuff. intense purple color on this, really deep and saturated, with excitable pink foam on top and a little shine through the depth, gorgeous in the teku they serve it in at the brewery. the nose on this is tangy and vinous, big syrah type notes on it, earthy and tannic from the fruit, some berry sweetness too, notes of blackberry and black currant among the fruits that are actually in this, purple grape, sturdy oak, and some cool mixed culture fermentation character where bretty funk and light bacterial pucker play real well together, not a lot of grain evident, but i dont miss it. the flavor is wonderful as well, the fruit is strong, juicy, fresh, and fully authentic, and the fermentation leads right along with it, quite tart, even more sour than it smells, the fruit has some natural tartness that adds to this, but its also got a nice wild profile that is now familiar to me from other anchorage beers. the right amount of oak, even some new oak character coming through, iron and minerals and an almost blood thing, and a gritty drying feeling like that too from the tannins. medium bodied, i feel more malt than i taste, this is dense in a good way. really flavorful beer, and very unique with the haskap berries. definitely one to seek out, im sure it will age well too, as their stuff almost always does, and with this much fruit, is likely to change relatively dramatically over time...

edit: just as special from the bottle, truly exceptional, intensely fruited, highly tannic, really complex, absolutely maxed out on the fruit saturation but i love it, as much juice or even wine as it is beer, wildly impressive!