When Shadows Fall
Bizarre Brewing

an elite level wild beer from these guys, who continue to impress me. this is done with black raspberries and is really boldly fruited but not to the point where the funkiness is lost, a nice balance to it, drinkable as its not exceedingly tart, and i think interesting enough to stand out in this style space. to call it just a black raspberry wild beer is a gross understatement though, its a heady and clever blend of two beers i want to try on their own if they exist as options like that, elements like coriander, wine yeast, blackberry honey, southern hemisphere hops, and grenache barrels, one of them even a lager, which is a lot of complexity, but its subtle and cohesive and i think nicely mature, talking 2023 vintage here, not sure if there have been others or not. nice color saturation, deep almost blood red, a little pinker maybe, and clear through much of the bottle, good carbonation activity even though the head is short and quick. big nose of cut roses, summery red wine, and of course the berries, which explode in here, well dosed, pure and real, no denying that, and the beer is well built around them, enough body even though i dont really smell or taste grain, a ton of yeast character in aroma and flavor too even though the lager aspect may be crowded out a bit, lots of the wine element, maybe as much from barrel and from yeast, maturing brett but still a touch young to me there, especially as it warms, but some subtly estery saison character might be in play too, could be coriander coming up from that thread? it moves quick and sort of keeps me guessing, in a good way of course, and all roads lead to these juice, body, tannic black raspberries, juicy and punchy the whole way and with a rather late flavor climax overall. i think the wine barrels add a fair bit to this, prune and black cherry characteristics, mineral forward too. the hops are subtle but bring cool freshness to the fruit, almost raspberry cane or leaf character taking those parts together, delightfully different. im not sure every element in the blended beers can be found on their own, but i love the end result and its real dynamic. tart but not real acidic, woody and interesting, and i bet the brett keeps going in the cellar on this one in a flattering way. lovely fruit complexion, the honey part is cool too, and this warms up nicely. thanks to my buddy for procuring on this travels and sharing, a special bottle that seems difficult to recreate, but i hope they do it again!