Ill Fate is the first beer we've ever released made only with red raspberries, and these were grown organically and harvested by the wonderful folks at Sidhu Farms in Puyallup.

We made some raspberry beers in 2017, including a Field Blend from red and gold raspberries from another farm. I found those red raspberries too "green" and herbaceous, and so we stopped using them after that year. I'd had Sidhu written down on my list of farms whose fruit I'd had at farmer's markets and enjoyed, but had trouble getting ahold of them for the first few years. Eventually (Thanks Michele!) I was put in touch with Kamal and we started taking their fruit in 2022. We've had really good luck with their berries since then, and that has led to a resurgence in us making more berry beers. So this beer feels, to me, like a return to where we left off in 2017.

The missing link between 2017 and 2025 came in 2024. We made a really small amount of raspberry beer then, my intent had been to use it to blend in with peaches. I was concerned about getting the ratios right, so I made the berry beer separately. When it came time to work on that beer I ended up not liking the combination as much as I had hoped, and if memory serves the raspberry beer went into Roseate VII instead.

Drinking that small sample of straight-up raspberry beer convinced me we should make this, and I'm really glad we did. For years I've used raspberries in combination with other fruit, but in general I don't like raspberry beers by themselves. The fruit is just too cloying. This beer, however, threads the needle quite nicely for my tastes, the berries aren't jammy like puree, the acidity is restrained, the ABV is low, and the fruit rate is delicate enough that the hops come through and combine with the raspberries to come across as spritzy and botanical-ish in a light gin barrel-aged way.

Bottling date: 11/20/2025
Conditioned with: Organic sugar.
Cellar: This is young-ish in the bottle and will continue to improve for the next few months if you keep it at room temperature. Should be at its best June-October 2026, drink by summer 2028.