Rain Shadows
Von Ebert Brewing

this is a stunner, really good, a beer wine hybrid and an excellent one. oak aged mixed culture base beer done with whole luster syrah grapes, freaking amazing. the color is a jewel toned purple, stained glass looking and quite fizzy from the bottle, not sure why i thought the base beer would be dark in this. its gorgeous to look at, clear, and has an intoxicating nose of tart grape skins, earthy minerals, light cracker pepper, wheat, and red currant, wow. it smells acidic but not shockingly so, and has some light funk to it as well, mature but not overly fermentation forward either. i get some cool woodiness to the flavor, some vanilla and sweetness there that make the fruit really pop, and this seems more fruit forward rather than finished wine tasting than many of the other grape beers we opened in a killer session last night, more juicy and off the vine, i dig that. hints of some other fruits too in the syrah profile, cranberry, plum, and raspberry all flash to me, and there is some light earthy spiciness coming out as it warms, pepper, wet soil, ash, really neat. this ended up being a great expression of the grape and a really juicy and bright tasting beer, but not one of the more unique ones in our lineup overall, which is not really a critique, this was also more refined than most of them, technically flawless, and one of the ones i would be most keen to drink again. impressive stuff from a brewery i know more for lagers and hazy stuff than wild beer. they positively nailed this, a must try if you like the style!