Salmonberry
Propolis Brewing

2021 vintage, a generous share from a wonderful beer friend, very interesting beer, as is pretty much always the case from these folks, not real familiar with salmonberry either, and im still not after this one, it didnt seem overly fruited to me, perhaps age has dropped some of that out, this is more about the ferment than the fruit to me, but i was hoping it might show me a little more salmonberry anyway. love the beer anyway though, funky and dry, white winey and floral, some oak and some sourness to it, but more wild to me than outright acidic, mouthwatering through. softly fruity, champagne, apricot, white peach, that kind of thing, mature too, maybe some oxidation starting, and some hay and straw to the grain, raw wheat possible, maybe just past peak in terms of age to me, this had to be more salmonberry forward when it was new right? this might also be different from year to year, the front of the label says chardonnay barrels, the back label says syrah barrels, and i dont think its both. my senses say white wine here, but there is just a bit of a raspberry red fruitiness, could be the salmonberry of course, but could also be a syrah barrel, but the chardonnay seems more logical. brett is musty and well developed, maybe a lambicus leader in the culture, there is acid to this, lemony and vinous. unique medicinal and even leather earthiness to this, clay and concrete minerality, meyer lemon zest at the end, piquant and intriguing on the ferment, unfortunately way under carbonated, not quite flat but nowhere near the life on the palate that it seems to want, so it sags a little, you can tell this is older now. still, really cool wild organic interesting beer from this brewery that always delivers on the intrigue and terroir and thoughtfulness. where can i score some salmonberries?!

$6.95/bottle at a beer store in Missoula, Montana.

Muted. Golden malts. Probably wheat or spelt in addition to 2-row. Lactobacillus bacteria. Acidic twang. Subdued brettanomyces. I don't pretend to know what "salmonberry" is meant to taste like, but I don't taste any berry/currant flavour at all. Hints of wine-soaked wood come through, but no rich oak or pungent woodsy notes.

Balanced if subdued for a sour (and not particularly sour for a sour).

B- / WORTHY