Tether
Finback Brewery - Glendale

really cool and special beer here, holiday gift from my brother and his wife, lucky me! its in a clear bottle, gorgeously labeled, and is a strong mixed culture offering with riesling skins, i have been loving the beer/wine crossover stuff for awhile now, still has my full attention, especially in there fermentation forward brews! i know the clear glass is trendy right now, but it actually scientifically is cool in this one, the brett seems to be able to keep up with the bacterial elements with the permission of light to enter. some sludgy sediment at the bottom of this, and some towards the neck like the bottle conditioning was real active, but it stays in the bottle when i pour it so the beer is quite clear, great fizzy active white head on it too, airy and champagne-esque. the nose and flavor are killer, great mix of wine and beer elements, its tart and tannic from the grape skins, still holding just a bit of sugar to them, perhaps partially why this is so strong. hints of ripe apricot, rose petal, and jasmine dance here too, twangy green gooseberry, under ripe blueberry, and dry, not sweet, white wine, still identifiable as riesling, but the beer parts do a lot here too. some light graininess, pils malt and white wheat i suspect, the body of this is crazy light but it still somehow supports all the alcohol, in that it doesnt feel exposed to me, even at temperature this barely gets warm. the yeasts are awesome, good funk in the nose, a little more sour in the taste, balanced acidity though, and with a nice citrusy pop to it, super clean on that side too. not a lot of wood or anything to me, but it doesnt really need mellowing like that, there is a great brightness from the grape skins that really defines this. majorly uplifting mouthfeel, delicate even for what this is overall, elegant anyway, and downright fantastic overall. another hit from these guys, they really do it all, i think now i rank them among the best in the country across a range of styles, wish i was sharing it with those who bequeathed it to me...