7.6

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 6.5

Bottle of unknown age from the B&B Asheville shop. Guessing it might be a Oct/Nov-ish 2021 release. Stemless wine glass @home. Not quite a bottle bomb, just eager. Uniform, cloudy, dull, tumeric yellow, nectar-ish pour. Smell is earthy, tropical, sharp. Pineapple, apple, banana, spice, yeast. Super doughy yeast upfront & throughout. Lightly sweet, crisp, sharpness comes on hard after a second, lingering lemon-y acid. Leftover savory salt. Tastes a bit like a kettle sour. Crushy seltzer-ish carbonation. Obviously yeasty. Alcohol could be anything, as I never trust a bottle that says 6.9%. Should be cheaper for several reasons, but it's good for what it is.

7.6

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8.5

Clear 375ml corked bottle. Always had better experiences with this format. Mojito glass @home. Clear, peachy pink color; Intentionally still(or is it?). Anything past the first couple of ounces quickly gets hazy. Little bit of ugly as the cork releases. Just stuffy maybe. Eventually it opens up into Maraschino cherry juice & standing water. The ugliness & uncertainty of wild fermentation. I don't get the bourbon or chocolate on the nose. Taste is really creative & the description is on point. Reminds me of Cella's chocolate-covered cherries. The apple, whatever the blend, are still acidic, somewhat astringent & lingering. Warming bourbon dipped cherries, not strong, but lasting. Noticeable oxidation, but it fits right in. Slight second change bubbles, but yes, it's still. Yeasty, but otherwise super thin juice. Boozy enough. Surprisingly good.

2.9

Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 3 | Flavor - 2 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 2.5

750ml bottle from their AVL shop. I thought I swore off old Botanist, but I'm a sucker for single varietals. Only learned later that this was released in September '21. Three weeks settling on the cold porch. Mojito glass @home. Reeks of vinegar & hot n fruity fermentation right from the pour. Apples, pears, lemons, roses. I can almost taste what Harry Master's supposedly taste like. I just unfortunately get immediately face fucked by this lemon scented Lysol wipe. It tastes like everything else wild they make. Sidra-inspired, but it's better suited to cleaning the funk out of your dish sink then tapas. I could drink it if forced, but I'm not desperate & just don't want to. Astringent, puckering, bittersweet, low carbonation, hard sulfites, good mixed with soy sauce & ginger for dumplings. Keep fooling me.

6.8

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

On tap @BotanistAVL. Taster. Not quite clear, blushy pink body. Soft & fuzzy ginger nose. Citrus rind, big acid, tweak of vinegar(menacing thoughts), ginger juice dripping off your sushi, funky oj, lingering lemon. Not a lot of apple presence. Cocktail-ish. Drying texture, tart, thin, a bit underdeveloped. Interesting idea, but just okay.

4.6

Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 4.5

On tap @Botanist AVL. Half-filled, stumpy, artsy, little 6oz tasting glass. Creamy, limeade color. Not initially appetizing. Yeasty, floral, sort of a uncertain scent. Odd flavors of veg, green tea(I know), Lipton tannins, clay, cooking oil, cooked green pepper, sharp apples, acidic. Didn't get the heat. Yeasty, earthy, mellow carb, whatever abv. Appreciate this one not tasting of pure vinegar. No thanks though.

2

Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 1 | Flavor - 2 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 1

Bottle from their Ass-ville outpost. Stemless wineglass @home. A foggy, dusty, pale, not super appetizing pour. Super chunks waiting to be released, dancing at the bottom. Big whiff of saltwater. As it dissipates, I get spicy vinegar. So tired of this dance. Sour, vinegary, lemon, lactic, veggie, tropical. Just about flat despite being bottle conditioned. Hazy, but otherwise thin-bodied. Booze is not the first thing on my mind. Stop releasing this bullshit already & do some qc. Wild ≠ good. The expired oj in my fridge is wild.

6.6

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

375ml bottle from their Asheville outpost. Stemless wineglass @home. Overactive bottle, not quite clean pour. Suspended, dull, gray-gold body. Smells of peach wine, plastic, sharp grapes, dirty vase water & cider vinegar. Yeasty upfront. Sharp, floral & very sour peach that can hide a lot of off flavors. Potpourri sort of peach/apricot/apple/rose flavor combo. Still some noticeable wildness trying to find a way out. These bottles are rarely good 6 months out. Barrel is hard to pinpoint, but there's some warmness. Off-dry & slick. A roundness to the aftertaste. Very bubble; forced. Somewhat boozy. Okay, if

7

Hazy pinkish bod sml wht head. Tart funky fruit aroma. Tart funky herbal flav. 8/2/8/3/16 3.7

6.9

Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

Overpriced bottle from Appalachian Vinter. $2 cheap at Whole Foods of all places, c'mon. Mojito glass @home. Hazy, mostly still, pale gold. Not too much to look at. Smell is bitter, pine, earth, juniper/gin botanicals, mint. Quite good. Juniper, sweet pine. Upfront gets quickly drowned out by by a mass of messy yeast. Carrot & red apple sweetness, pepper, solidly tart, earthy mess. Lingering pepper. Mellow, prickly carbonation, thick slurry of yeast flavor even though it's settled, warming ABV. Bursts of flavor, but sloppy.

8.1

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 8.5

Bottle from Whole Paycheck. Duvel glass. Opaque, dusty gold, big head, lingering lace. Baby powder, aerosol, very mellow lavender, lemon oil, wax. Dessert & bitter apples, lemon, wax, slick honey. Mellow tartness, strong acidity, slight oxidation. No obvious vinegar in this one. Well carbonated, slippery, warming. Solid.