We loaded up a tank with locally grown whole cluster Vermentino grapes from Ryme Cellars in Sonoma County that Doug from Burial drove down to us after his wine country trip. Vermentino is an Italian white varietal with bright acidity that is commonly used in orange wine production due to its white, orange and reddish skins. Once the crushed grapes and stems were in the tank we brewed a helles lager on top. We cool fermented with lager yeast and whatever yeast came in with the grapes until the wonderful skin flavor was in harmony with the malt and hops of the wort. At that point we racked the beer off of the clusters into a new tank to finish out fermentation.

We then split up the batch and bottle conditioned a small portion of it. The rest sat in a tank cold conditioning for 2 months until clear and mellow.

Ancient Idols is a wonderful crossroads between wine and beer straddling a line that seems to shift back and forth between the two as you enjoy drinking it. The aroma shows its helles base but reveals more vinous notes as it warms. The flavor is distinctly wine like with melon and pear flavors and a luscious mouth coating structure from the whole cluster fermentation.
If you enjoy sipping spritzy white wine but could also crush helles lager all day like us then you definitely don’t want to miss out on this limited release.