Alvinne ale - fermented with their house Morpheus yeast I assume - macerated with Muscat grapes from a nearby winery, advertised as a Flemish grape ale, accentuating the 'terroir' character of this concept. Medium thick, regular and quite stable, off-white head with vague pale pinkish tinge, tiny-bubbled and creamy, slowly breaking in the middle and lacing in streaks and strands, on an initially clear, bright vermillion-tinged copper red beer with rosy glow, turning misty with sediment. Aroma of clear Muscat grape - not just the juice (including their sweetness), but the seeds and skins as well, thickly covering more subtle impressions of redcurrant, dry earth, dark green tree leaves, wild elderberries and brambleberry bushes, homemade fruit yoghurt, freshly cut red apple, background hints of dry rosé wine, petrichor, raw sweet potato, raw rhubarb, even a protein element of raw horse steak, clove, red wine vinegar diluted with water, fresh button mushroom faraway somewhere. Crisp, tart onset, puckering even, with the natural sourness of the beer - gooseberry- and rhubarb-like - reinforced by the acids of the grapes, but the latter also provide sweetishness; lively carb, smooth body, corresponding with what can be expected at this ABV. Supple cereally core under lactic acid from the Morpheus yeast but also, alas, a red wine vinegar sharpness further on, stinging deep into the throat; could something Acetobacter-like have developed here, amplifying the sours of the Morpheus and the grapes? The latter do their job, though, adding lots of 'real' fruitiness, juiciness and tannic astringency in the end, with a woody grape seed note but luckily also a lot of grape juiciness, though relatively little of the vinosity I had been hoping for. Due to that slightly vinegary streak, the finish proceeds a bit harshly, but never lacks complexity, with the different flavour layers provided by the grapes (sweetish juiciness alongside tannic, drying seed and skin elements) superseding layers of oak wood, damp earth, wet bluestone, wild berries harvested in some ancient European forest and what Sloefmans calls "undergrowth". The grapes get the last word, in a marvellously aromatic but also acetic way, impairing drinkability. Convincing as this Muscat Bleu is in terms of technical perfection and complexity of aroma, it carries just a bit too many different acids in one, reinforcing each other into something too sharp even for my taste. Too bad: I still believe I need more Alvinne in my life again, also considering how this brewery now spans the very beginnings of craft brewing in Belgium to the general decline we see today - but this one, despite its fascinating aromas and complexity, just lacks that element of drinkability for me due to being overly sour.

Bottle at home. Bit hazy light purple with pink/purple head. Lots of sweet grapes, sour berries, soft popcorn, winegums, strawberries, vanilla, a bit earthy, overripe blackberries. Quite soir, light sweet. Medium bodied.

Sour grape ale. Pleasant, nothing more.