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

Illegibly-dated can, canned sometime in 2023, but from the cooler, and drunk 2/24/24. Sparkling, clear, brass-golden with a medium-sized, frothy, white head showing moderate-to-strong retention. Seems like some good phenol/ester but it's complicated by the sumac and of course the Motueka lends a big, round, lightly tropical fruitiness. Maybe a bit of melon, but it's really hard to get at the yeast. Malts seem to add biscuit, white bread, light honey. Clean. No crude phenols that I can find. Spicy up front with white pepper from the yeast and a malty, moderately-sweet texture with spicy sumac adding a touch of light astringency. Some juicy and light tropical fruit, again, from the Motueka. The carbonation is very heavy, peppery. The sumac adds a lot of unwelcome (IMO) acidity on the end and the Motueka really dominates. Kind of a mess of flavors and I'm left wondering what the hell I'm drinking. I don't love the sumac expression, being quite acidic/astringent and without any round or bright flavor. Lingering bread, vanilla, random spice, white pepper. Good enough malt texture helps things a lot, but it's still a bit baffling overall. Maybe needs another six months or so of age to come together.