Careless Contact - Merlot
Two Tides Brewing Company

i had the pleasure of having two vintages of this one, the 2020 on tap at the source, and the 2023 from the bottle, and its safe to say this is really special stuff that ages quite well, brighter fruit in the newer one, much more developed funk and wild profile in the older, both incredible, and neat to have them so close together! this is a series, and its a cool way to appreciate each grape varietal, the packaging is also amazing! fermented on grape pomace, taking a ton of color from the pigment of the fruit, some tannins from the skins and seeds, and really quite dynamic on the ferment. pretty deep color saturation, spritzy both from the bottle and from the keg, but not really giving rise to a lot of head. there is mouthwatering acidity to this, and i smell everything from grape candy to red currant, old wood, and graphite, highly fruited and vinous, nice and farmy, majorly appealing. the flavor has a little up front sweetness, not much malt to it, and unique layers as it moves, sour up front but not pushing into the vinegar range, lovely funky brett a little later as it warms, and that almost carbonic twang from the wine itself not just the grapes, really cool. earthy and grounded, drier later on, and nicely carbonated. subtle cherry and cranberry fruitiness too, i think also specifically merlot which is cool, and overall i found this both brighter and also more intensely vinous than the cabernet sauvignon edition we also had by the bottle, although both do similar things. rad series, sick art, these guys can do it all!