No Rules
Antimony Brewing - Craft Brewery & Kitchen

a gabf bronze medal winning sour, done with plums and hibiscus together, a neat combination and very nicely dosed, lightly hazy but still bright almost flamingo pink color here, short and fast fading head but fizzy beer to drink, and its quite tasty overall, although its the hibiscus that makes it both interesting and delicious to me, not a bad base sour or anything, clean in that regard and decent pucker without going too intense, lemony and bright, but there really isnt anything special or unique about this to me, plum puree not some kind of special local plum or any element that makes it compelling on an ingredient side really, its formulaic in that regard, not a critique because its well executed, but maybe i am a snob in that i want a little more from my fruit beer, i dont know, its good. citrusy nose and taste with some cool floral botanical bitterness from the hibiscus that really accentuates the plum, the pairing is outstanding and the dosage of both is great, almost equal, which can be hard for plum, a fruit sometimes lost to fermentation or overwhelmed by other ingredients in beer, but not here. very plum forward, juicy and tart, with nuances of cranberry and raspberry, red fruit and tang, lightly vinous on the acidity late, lemon zest and pith, fairly intense hibiscus which i love, and just enough wheat malt in the base beer to not just be juice, which is also much to its credit. this has some body, seems well enough grounded, and really does have a lot of flavor, honest plum and the beautiful hibiscus in here. probably worthy of its accolades, but i guess i worry about losing the farmer/agricultural aspect if all of the decorated fruit beers use generic puree from some national supplier, not a critique of this excellent beer, but perhaps a commentary about these styles and where they will all be headed if we dont start asking for and acknowledging fruit varietals and sources in our beers. that said, i thought this was excellent overall.