Lilac City
Bellwether Brewing Co.

lilac kefir sour, weird as heck, had to order one, totally yogurty on the ferment, puckery and lemony and sharp, but oddly kind of milky to me too, has to be a front end kettle type souring, but i am not sure of the process here. also cool that its made with lilac, not sure i have had that as a beer ingredient before, so this is of interest on a number of levels, even though i think the beer is kind of polarizing, not as dialed in as some of their best, and quite acidic overall. very washed out pale from the tap, not much head but still fizzy, and with a funky nose, not as fresh from the lilac as i thought, less floral for sure, nowhere near perfume, and its not as springy and light there as it could be, it seems weighted down by soupy wheaty grain and extra tart from the souring process, mouthwatering but weird as can be. i get just a little herbal blooming thing from the lilac in the flavor, but the high acid and dairy kind of weirdness overtake the nuance a bit, its totally secondary to the sourness, which i dont love, but its cool to taste the lilac at all. its also pretty malty despite being dry, short of heavy, but there is a lot of grain flavor to this. i end up respecting it more than loving it, neat idea, probably pretty good execution but i dont know a ton about using kefir in beer, but i also dont want more than a single glass of it. bellwether continues to be by far the most ambitious brewery in spokane, no contest.