Casey Family Preserves - Apricot + Vanilla (Perfection)
Casey Brewing & Blending and Barrel Cellar

Brewed and blended with generous amounts of apricots and balanced with vanilla, Casey's "Family Preserves" series celebrates a our palate with wood nuances, softness and an off-jammy fruitiness.

Pouring hazy and effervescent, the Apricot + Vanilla rendition of Casey Family Preserves races with a fizzy, frothy bounce before teasing the nose with stone fruit, citrus, cider, wine and weathered oak. Briskly briney and with a general cellar-like perfume, the scent soon leads into a scantly sweet, wafer thing maltiness with hints of sourdough, dry taffy and hard candy.

What little sweetness drifts onto the middle palate is scurried away quickly in favor of an arid fruit flavor that leads with apricot but also nuances of orange, mango and peach. Dry, racy and peppery in their fruity taste, the underlying sourness also shares complex flavors of lime, crabapple, lemon, white grape, gooseberry and passionfruit. Each fruit takes on a branch-dried density that trails into a woodsy spice of peppercorn, vinous tannin and dusty after palate redolent of dry burlap.

Light, crisp and highly refreshing, the term "preserves" suggest something sweet but this beer performs dry, winey and cidery with a clean and arid finish. the additions of vanilla take an edge off of the brazen acidity but never celebrates anything sweet or cream oriented.