Beers made with fruit in their ingredients list often push the boundaries of what we typically consider ‘beer.’ Fine Fettle, our new fruited farmhouse ale, definitely stretches the beer moniker. Fermented in wood for 14 months with a mixture of brewer’s yeast, wild yeast and bacterial cultures, this beer was then re-fermented and finished with sweet cherries. The result shares some characteristics with red wine: a plumminess underneath cherry overtones, a dry, slightly tannic body, and a kiss of oakiness. Tasted straight away after fermentation, the beer was reminiscent of  a Pinot Noir in its flavor expression; carbonation and further aging brought out brighter cherry notes as well as sparkling character and slight acidity. All told, this beer was  16 months in the making, but we feel it was worth the wait.