I've wanted to go back to some old heirloom varietals of fruit to try new things out, and one of the most famous northwest-bred and grown historical cherries is Black Republica. They were developed in the mid 19th century in Oregon by Seth Lewelling, who was a civil war era abolitionist and orchardist.

These were graciously grown at the small organic/biodynamic orchard that Analemma has right next to their winery tasting room in the Gorge. It's a beautiful spot to stop and have some wine if you are ever down that way.

We removed all the stems and refermented the whole cherries on a single barrel of long-aged mixed culture saison. I think the end result really highlights how dark and intense these cherries are, you can see from the ABV that they were really sweet, as a 5.8% base beer turns into a 7.9% sneaky strong beer. The cherries are also very potent color-wise, and the beer has a really intense color to it, although on the palate it's more balanced than the color would have you think.

Bottling date: 11/07/2024
Conditioned with: Organic cane sugar.
Cellar: Taking a wild guess that this will age pretty well, best before 2029.