There's No Such Thing as Seagulls, Oliver
Varietal Beer Company

season 2 blend, a blended wild ale aged in wine barrels, refermented on syrah, cabernet sauvignon, and petite bordeaux grapes, really cool beer from these guys. i have not had much of their wild stuff before, this impressed me a lot. slightly hazy deep violet color to this, fizzy but not holding really any head beyond a few stray patches of accumulated bubbles on the top, high color saturation. the nose is quite vinous to me, tart but not exceedingly sour, tannic and woody and very mature, and with just a ton of grape character too, largely fermented down to dry, so this presents like beer and wine at the same time, not a juicy fruity beer, but like finished wine in some respects, very cool. i get light sulfur from the grapes, their tart skins, heavy wet oak, and very little malt. the alcohol showing through just a bit, plenty of terroir, minerals and even wet soil in the fruit, and awesome funkiness, really cool fermentation profile. the flavor is all of this, fruit forward but funk forward too, saison-esque for a moment with a white grape and pear ester, then hay and straw and brett, medium acidity with the natural grape tang in the mix, and pretty dry at the end for how fruity it is. the grapes are earthy and jammy at the same time, notes of blackberry and plum to me, my palate cant quite get variety specific on them, but its a pretty complex fruit profile, and this definitely drinks like natural wine. i like how light the body is, how minimal the malt is overall, and how this finishes wild and woody and dry. really neat beer on the whole, cool blend, nice and mature, great use of these grapes. this is a new side of varietal for me, and i love it. thanks to my friend for sharing this special bottle. would love to see this with white grapes too!