Get to know your beer: Plum in Love

At Alesong, we like to think that each of our beers is brewed, aged and blended with love – love for our community, our craft, and of course a love of drinking beer!  Plum in Love, though, is the culmination of a yearlong project to create a beer that was worthy of representing Brian and his fiancée Lindsey at their upcoming wedding, so it felt like it had to go even further than that! 

Of course when they got engaged last spring, it was a given that Alesong had to play a role in the nuptials! Starting a brewery isn’t the best way to have an extravagant wedding budget, but there are certainly some perks to be had.  Like having the wedding at a new brewery in the country! Oh wait… never mind. Anyway, some things aren’t always under your control, but one thing we did know: Brian’s wedding beer was going to be amazing!

So how can you possibly begin to make a beer that is going to live up to all the expectations of love, of a wedding, and of a lifelong commitment?  First, you go through the cellar and taste every single barrel to pick out your favorite one.  It has to represent you on your big day!  Then, take 50 lbs of hand-picked, tree-ripened plums from a friend’s garden and spend a day together with your fiancée pitting and processing, maybe eating a few... Add lots of laughter and silliness (those who know Lindsey will understand!), and finally, take all your effort and turn it over to Mother Nature to add the finishing touches!

Well, after about 9 more months re-fermenting in the barrel, Plum in Love lives up to all of our highest expectations for Lindsey and Brian. And of course for the beer!  A beautiful, subtle nose that is unmistakably plum mingled with a hint of hayfields after spring rain gives way on first sip to a mildly tart Belgian-style golden ale that finishes dry and clean.  Delicious and refreshing!  If the way Plum in Love turned out is any kind of omen, I think Lindsey and Brian are in for a long and happy life together!

Cheers to many years!