The Family Ghost
TRVE Brewing Co.

Uniquely concocted with The Family Jones, TRVE agrees to a genever-styled sour ale that's made with cinnamon, rosemary, orange peel, orris root, juniper and grains of paradise for gentle layers of spice that lay over a spontaneously sour ale for a multitude of complexity, nuances and intrigue.

Reading more like a cocktail, The Family Ghost pours with a rich golden hue and held in a yeasty, wheaten haze. Spicy aromas are nuanced enough so that none of the individual additions of spice stand out over the must, wood and slight funk that the ale naturally provides. Aciidic fruit steps in before the first taste of sourdough, pulled candy and fresh breadiness marks a slightly sweeter early palate.

The taste sharply turns toward the fruit and away from the malts as the tartness washes the middle palate. Leading with lemon and green apple, other fruit character of guava, pineapple and lime come with an acutely lactic character. Tempering its sourness heading into the late palate, a woodsy sense of balsa wood, burlap and vinous soaked cork lead to an earthy, spicy taste that's allowed to be highlighted by the medley of spice additions that wash each other out and become a general spicy complement to the beer's taste.

Medium light in body, the sharpness of acidity provides a crisp, clean and refreshing texture while the tethers of sourdough remain to keep the sourness and spices creamy and supportive. A medium short linger of earth and grain intertwine seamlessly into a dried fruit aftertaste.

another weird concoction from these guys that tastes amazing and wholly unique! very few in the game are doing funky beer as ambitious as these guys, and i love all of it. huge thanks to my homie for shipping this one up from denver for me, so good to have beer friends! this is done with juniper, orris root, cinnamon, orange peel, rosemary and grains of paradise, a collaboration with the family jones distillery, who mixes up some pretty rad cocktails! the beer is pale in color with a tall white head from the bottle, real active and alive looking. aroma is powerfully fragrant, almost a potpourri thing going on here, dried flowers, a light ginger note, warming cinnamon, piquant wild yeasts, zesty orange and lemon, hints of coriander, pepper, and even like a mustard seed thing, gin notes obviously with the juniper, and some sweetness i rarely get in mixed culture beer from trve, they run so dry, but a little cereal grain sweetness and citrus juice character remain in this. the herbal character in the flavor is insane, some oiliness and even bitterness from the rosemary, but its offset by the warm cinnamon, which is a curious and clever add here. juniper and pine are persistent but not too intense, and citrus freshness keeps it from getting too wintery to me. fuller wheaty body but incredibly effervescent in feel, fizzy like a gin and soda, and really well layered. also, not lost in all of this, is just how awesome the trve fermentation profile is, it works with everything in this beer, adds a light tartness and a really old worldy musty funk that makes this seem ancient and timeless. glad i got a couple of these, this is sure to do well in the cellar over time. these guys blow me away pretty much every time, and this is one of their most unique beers to date. somehow wintery, a different kind of festive beer. yum!

edit: the few of these i have had now are already evolving in the bottle in just a couple months, looking forward to seeing what some more extended ageing might do here...

edit: over a year later they seem mellower in some sense, maybe even more integrated with all the added spices and herbs coming together, maybe less exotic, but more funky too, bone dry, and nicely conditioned in the bottle. still radically interesting overall, but less pungent and intense than it was. really cool stuff!