Supercruise
Black Project Spontaneous & Wild Ales

L:. Pours a golden yellow with a fizzy white head and no lacing.

S:. Toasted bread, sweet grapes, a hint of berries, some acid and sour.

T:. Sweet grapes, a touch of tart skin, some toasted bread, a hint of berries.

F:. Smooth carbonation, light body.

O:. The grape really shines in this beer.

 

 

i could not imagine a more mature and delicious wild beer than this, a perfect base for this fruit and this funky yeast, and while i wont go so far as to put it in front of the mach limit tempranillo (literally unbeatable grape based wild ale), i will say its one of the best beers these guys have eve done. purple and funky, musty and rustic, as weirdly bready grainy as it is fruity, but the cabernet grapes make this so distinct and even weird, i cant get enough. part of the brilliance is that the sour is so mellow, i mean, its barely even present, some tang, but this is only secondarily a sour, first its a winey beer, and an earthy dry musty interesting layered one at that, with the fruit and the grain and the yeast all marrying into something so special. i think the mach limit was even pushed one more level, but this is pretty darn awesome, and i heard it was a base of the dreamland, which, on its own, doesnt even seem close to ready to pop off this hard. an amazing grape based wild ale, all colorado fruit too i am pretty sure. amazing, and an under appreciated offering from a brewery that is finally finding their stride, independent of all the line up around the block cash only fools...

edit: there was a time when this was one of the best black project beers of all time, it probably was for awhile, and i was so excited to age one awhile, one of their earliest bottles i think, almost on par with the mach limit tempranillo, but opening an undated old bottle, really old bottle, i was super disappointed, the grapes have faded right along with the color, its reddish now, not purple, the brightness is gone, and it looks flatter than i remember too. this bottle is over five years i think, maybe more like eight. anyway its got a strong vinegar nose, still vinous in a way, but the funk has given way to acidity, it it smells and tastes degraded and off, a shame because this was really special stuff at one point, we didnt drink the whole bottle. i remember this being pure glory, and so will leave original scores in place, not their fault i kept this one so long, but now i really wish i didnt. what a waste. some of their beer has aged real well, some of it has not. rip.