Automated Heart Patterns
White Pony Microbrewery

Imported direct from Belgium.

The can calls it an "Italian Grape Ale" and elaborates a "kinda innovative Belgian Dark Ale brewed with red grapes must."

So, okay, I'm interested.

It's a weird but lovely pour--looks like either a very red stout or a very dark red ale. Wonderfully fizzy with a large and retentive brown head.

Aroma is bright grapes, some cherry-ish fruit, sweet Belgian grainbill, and a nice wisp of spicy yeast. Complex but still crisp. Very inviting; not at all intimdiating.

Flavor is likewise fainter than I had anticipated but still wonderfully deep, balanced, and creative. Semi-sweet grape juice up front, and a wonderfully mixture of fruit juice and thick yeast in the middle that's reminiscent of New Glarus' fruit beers (I mean that as the highest possible compliment). This segues into an end and finish that's like a sweet, mid-alcohol Belgian dubbel. The contrast was striking the first sip or two and I wasn't sure I liked it, but after a short while I began to relish its unique balance.

An excellent beer. I certainly some White Pony begins importing to the US.