Telegraph Reserve Wheat Ale

I had been walking through beer paradise (the Hi-Time Wine Cellar beer fridge) and spotted a beer I hadn't seen before, from a brewery I rarely see bottles from. That would be Telegraph Brewing up in Santa Barbara. Their beers are fairly well regarded around the Southern California area but you don't see a ton of their bottled beers around. This one caught my eye and I'm not really sure why. It was probably that word "reserve" on the label, cause if it just "Telegraph Wheat Ale" I probably would have passed. I began to read the bottle that said:

This intensely sour "wild ale" recalls the earliest rustic beers crafted centuries ago before brewers had an understanding of controlled fermentation. Brewed with the addition of lemon verbena, as well as lactobacillus and brettanomyces, Telegraph Reserve Wheat is an all-together different beast from modern beer. Not for the faint of heart, this special brew is available in extremely limited quantities.

That description cries out my name. As far as I can tell, because I've only ever had like 2 different Berliner Weisse beers ever, this beer fits that category. It's that gorgeous clear pale but still golden with tons of streaming carbonation bubbles and a light airy head. The smell is a little more than tart lemon juice, there's also some wheat and yeast phenolics going on as well. The taste contains more of all that. Not too tart, pretty mild actually, but enough to get your attention. It's also got a mixed wheat and Belgian yeast taste kinda like a toned down wit. Just a really great easy drinking beer. I'm about through the whole 750 right now and I wouldn't mind having another. 4.6/5