Imaginary Grace
Monday Night Brewing

16 ounce pint - $16.00 at Woodstock Beer Market in Woodstock, Georgia.

Appearance: Lightly hazed, dark golden-hued body. Very slim head from a hefty pour, though at that price point, they better fill 'er up.

Smell: Soft supple wheat slides into tropical tones, fragrant floral lemon and stone fruit with a hinted-at tartness.

Taste: Initial honeyed sweetness, then a firm but fair funky tartness atop a base layer of basic wheat. Perceived sour lemon. Dried, pressed florals. Apricot alongside a tropical fruitiness. Altogether faint spice and woodsy hints. Tropical, tart finish.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied. Medium carbonation albeit of a slight spritzy nature.

Overall: Fairly likeable.

for a brewery i had never heard of before, this is about as epic a liquid first impression as a place can make on me, wow. i thought i knew all the breweries making wild ale and lambic types around the country, there just arent all that many, and i feel like its a pretty small world, so when i saw this and some of their others, i was frankly just in awe. this is incredible stuff, a straight up gueuze, blended from three vintages of spontaneous beer, truly impressive, and its not just the process, its the result, this is good enough to have come from belgium, but its made in atlanta, urban inoculation, how cool. the beer is just a shade deeper than golden but short of brass, an orange tint to it, a bit of white head but not overly bubbly, and it smells real mature, woody, wheaty and kind of raw on the grain side, and super funky rather than particularly bacterial, cool mix of fermenting agents in this no doubt, lots of brett farmy weirdness and oak, definitely wild. there is a vinous thing to the woody side of this, white wine fruitiness but also that almost gritty tannic property, minerals all through this, and a real earthy organic component to the malt. there is light oxidation and green glass influence here too which i think is endearing and befitting of this, and i get fresh zested lemon, aromatic cedar, musty basement, green olive water, and white grape and currant. downright awesome, tart but way more funky than sour, and nicely blended. moderate carbonation feels like enough, i dont want this moving too fast, and there is some body in place from the wheat here not broken down by the acidity. overall incredible stuff, would fit right in with a lineup of world class lambics, i was moved by this, and now am incredibly thirsty for more of their beer. love the understated packaging on this, the fermentation profile rules, and this is one i hope to drink again. amazing!

edit: had a bottle of the 2024 vintage shared recently and there is tangible difference from what i remember, but still just absolutely wonderful, this time more rich fruitiness, apricot both fresh and dried, peach nectar, subtle butterscotch and floral honey, breadfruit and tangerine too, real complex, and still with some stout body from the wheat, which i like in a beer with some acidity. truly wild, mellow and enhancing residual sugar, killer funkiness, a little sauternes note on the finish, just awesome!

ggreat ale taste refreshing and creamy