Torch of Certainty
Aslan Brewing Company

been sitting on this one a minute, a collaboration with the now sadly defunct dwinell, and the kind of beer i love aslan for and always have, despite the proliferation of their clean beer in the region, this is still their sweet spot for me. a blended funky saison type, tart and wild both, done with a mix of wine grapes, red heavy, and its very much like natty wine to me, with a really light grain profile to it and a lot of fruit, but also really dry and tannic, i was very impressed with this, and its drinking great right now, a couple of years old. lovely color and pour overall, some fluffy off white head on top of frosted ruby red liquid with a purple lean, thin and sort of light looking, lively, pretty. the aroma is sharp, some light almost sulfur funk is slow to blow off, plum and raspberry fruitiness with the obvious red wine grape vibe, vinous for sure, red rose, lemon and white wine acidity which is neat, some cool funk to this too, really earthy, some red wine vinegar sharpness but i like the complexity, mouthwatering for sure. the flavor is fruit forward with a cool mix of grape varietals yielding black raspberry and pie cherry notes with some black currant and aronia berry, skinny tang, deep terroir to the extent that the minerality has its own personality in this, lots of acid, drying and grippy, a touch more bacterial than it needs to be for drinkability, but not way over the line, and there is seriously a lambic-like maturity and wild side to this that i think is a cool expression of both breweries at their best, so compelling with the fruit here, and this drinks like light zero intervention field blend wine of the old world. the body is very light, and grain isnt a big player in this at all, its more juice than malt, but stays beery enough anyway. drying for being this fruity, amazing late funk at temperature, and really zippy carbonation feels just right. i loved this, love that it exists, am impressed with how it is aging, and hope its not the last i see or drink from dwinell, but if it is, it will be a nice memory of what they were really all about. grape wild beer continues to be my muse...