7

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

Can drunk 9/7/18.
Clear, rosy, peach-copper, very well-carbonated leading to a large, off-white head that shows moderate retention.
Well-attenuated grape must adds light chalk, leather, plentiful acid and light sweetness to the otherwise well-attenuated, only lightly-hoppy nose. It's a bit fruity, though even hard to differentiate yeast from hop at points. Lots of strawberry, apple, grape ester and a ton of white pepper and light alcohol on the finish. Biscuit and bread dough emanate from the malt, with just a hint of honey.
In the mouth it's champagne-like carbonated with a very supportive, supple malt texture that adds plentiful sweetness and then dries out on the finish with notes of white bread, honey, black and white pepper, strawberry, grape and raspberry. Very clean flavors and everything works well together. Texture and carbonation are great, but I'm just a bit put-off by the overall strength of the beer. Between the grape acidity and hops, strong malt profile and fairly strong (though not sharp or messy) alcohol character, it's just a bit forceful. The carbonation and strong pepper phenols seem to exacerbate this as well. Otherwise, clean and well-done, maybe just not my favorite "style".