Great! It's getting better with some age.

No head over clear red copper beer. Vinous nose, old wine, old fruitwine, incense, and generally superb. Fruity character tastewise, if less stellar than the nose. Old fruit and again the incense. Light, acidthinning and light -burning, not very carbonated. Excellent, no discussion.

The first beer in what is intended to constitute a new trilogy in the Heilig Hart church brewery's saga, In de Naam van de Heilige Geest, being the follow-up to the original trilogy entitled In de Naam van de Vader which contains technically correct, but style-wise rather straightforward beers. I have been looking forward to this new trilogy's 'firstling' for a long time: I first met the brewer, who is also an expert (and dealer) in natural wine and sake, during a visit to the Alvinne brewery in Moen on a beautiful summer day three and a half years ago from now and he already told me back then that he had plans to create beers in three trilogies, each time making use of different fermentation techniques. I therefore not only expect two more 'wine-beers' to appear later on in this series, but a totally different new series as well, which I imagine will take several more years to avail. Anyway: this Epiclese is intended as a hybrid of wine and beer, made with wine must of Gamay grapes (which I coincidentally encountered recently in a few grape beers by Atrium as well) that was blended with a wheat beer wort, fermented with the yeasts naturally present on the grape skins and aged partially on ceramic egg fermenters (the direct descendent of the original stone fermenters used in Antiquity - and still today in the Caucasus country of Georgia, the so-called 'qvevri') and partially on a wooden barrel. The result shows a thin but (at least initially) stable, tiny-bubbled, somewhat beige-tinged off-white head with some small patches off the edge, on a deep and warm orange amber-glowing robe with cognac tinge, beautifully and equally misty, through which disparate, fine gas bubbles quietly travel upwards. Rich, fruity bouquet of indeed wine must - with a sour cherry and red raspberry juice quality to it that seems to typify Gamay wine, fermenting pears or red apples, oxidized rosé champagne, old dried orange peel, maracujá, baked clay (the egg fermenters clearly - and even quite strong here, as in some of these experimental Cantillon lambics aged in amforas, though a bit more subtle), home-baked 'pistolets' coming fresh from a hot oven, a gently earthy tone of fried sweet potato, roses, cava, overripe gooseberries, oloroso and soaking wet oak wood, vague hints of honey, dried plantain leaves, melon, fried tomato peel and very faint smoky phenols flirting with the flavour threshold but adding some extra complexity faraway in the background. Utterly fruity, juicy onset, immediately crisply lemony-sour, as in fresh redcurrant or other sour berries, though the acidity becomes a bit softer towards the end - all the while behaving elegantly and acquiring a more yoghurty, lactic character as it develops; hidden within this tartness are sweet ripe grapes, impressions of apple, red plum, vague passionfruit and not completely ripe cantaloupe; carbonation is inherently spritzy but in a very refined and 'quiet', almost Lambrusco-like way, paired with a smooth, vinous body that nevertheless feels quite 'full' for 6.5% ABV. The middle phase is, indeed and as promised, a combination of smooth wheat and barley breadiness with juicy wine 'mustiness', continuing the play of sour and sweet fruit into a rich, appetizing finish where that baked clay-like minerality of the ceramic fermenters meets the fruitiness of the yeasts and blends with them into a brief and volatile effect of sweet tomato, quickly eclipsed by sweet-sour, colourful 'grapeyness' and switching to a tannic astringency from barrels and grapes. Dry finish with a more 'beery' shade (possibly from the hops, even if these are merely structural and do not provide any bitterness), but everything is tied together perfectly, this juicy fruitiness - the 'core' of this beer - remains lively and satisfying and each sip makes me want to take another one. Highly elegant creation, inspired by the Italian wine-beer hybrids which I think are among the most innovative results of European craft brewing of the past decades; a perfect bière d'apéritif and highly promising for the second and third episodes in this new trilogy... --- Beer aliased from original tick of in de Naam van de Heilige Geest Epiclese on 02 Jan 2021 at 23:10 - Score: Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 8.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9. Original review text: The first beer in what I assume is intended to form a new trilogy, "In de Naam van de Heilige Geest", in the Heilig Hart church brewery's saga, the follow-up to the "original trilogy" entitled "In de Naam van de Vader" which contains technically correct, but style-wise rather straightforward beers. I have been looking forward to this new trilogy's 'firstling' for a long time: I first met the brewer, who is also an expert (and dealer) in natural wine and sake, during a visit to the Alvinne brewery in Moen on a beautiful summer day five years ago and he already told me back then that he had plans to create beers in three trilogies, each time making use of different fermentation techniques. I therefore not only expect two more 'wine-beers' to appear later on in this series, but a totally different new series as well, which I imagine will take several more years to avail. Anyway: this Epiclese is intended as a hybrid of wine and beer, made with wine must of Gamay grapes (which I coincidentally encountered recently in a few grape beers by Atrium as well) that was blended with a wheat beer wort, fermented with the yeasts naturally present on the grape skins and aged partially on ceramic egg fermenters (a revivalist interpretation of the clay fermenting vessels originally used in wine making millennia ago) and partially on a wooden barrel. The result shows a thin but (at least initially) stable, tiny-bubbled, somewhat beige-tinged off-white head with some small patches off the edge, on a deep and warm orange amber-glowing robe with cognac tinge, beautifully and equally misty, through which disparate, fine gas bubbles quietly travel upwards. Rich, fruity bouquet of indeed wine must - with a sour cherry and red raspberry juice quality to it that seems to typify Gamay wine, fermenting pears or red apples, oxidized rosé champagne, old dried orange peel, maracujá, baked clay (the egg fermenters clearly - and even quite strong here, as in some of these experimental Cantillon lambics aged in stone amforas, though a bit more subtle), home-baked 'pistolets' coming fresh from a hot oven, a gently earthy tone of fried sweet potato, roses, overripe gooseberries, oloroso and wet oak wood, vague hints of honey, dried plantain leaves, melon, fried tomato peel and very faint smoky phenols flirting with the flavour threshold but adding some extra complexity faraway in the background. Utterly fruity, juicy onset, immediately crisply sour, as in fresh redcurrant or other sour berries, though the acidity becomes a bit softer towards the end - all the while behaving elegantly and acquiring a more yoghurty, lactic character as it develops; hidden within this tartness are sweet ripe grapes, impressions of apple, red plum, vague passionfruit and not completely ripe cantaloupe; carbonation is inherently spritzy but in a very refined and 'quiet', almost Lambrusco-like way, paired with a smooth, vinous body that nevertheless feels quite 'full' for 6.5% ABV. The middle phase is, indeed and as promised, a combination of smooth wheat and barley breadiness with juicy wine 'mustiness', continuing the play of sour and sweet fruit into a rich, appetizing finish where that baked clay-like minerality of the ceramic fermenters meets the fruitiness of the yeasts and blends with them into a brief and volatile effect of sweet tomato, quickly eclipsed by sweet-sour, colourful 'grapeyness' and switching to a tannic astringency from barrels and grapes. Dry finish with a more 'beery' shade (possibly from the hops, even if these are merely structural and do not provide any bitterness), but everything is tied together perfectly, this juicy fruitiness - the 'core' of this beer - remains lively and satisfying and each sip makes me want to take another one. Highly elegant creation, inspired by the Italian wine-beer hybrids which I think are among the most innovative results of European craft brewing of the past decades; a perfect "bière d'apéritif" and highly promising for the second and third episodes in this new trilogy...