diff --git a/qqq-backend-core/src/main/java/com/kingsrook/qqq/backend/core/modules/backend/implementations/memory/MemoryRecordStore.java b/qqq-backend-core/src/main/java/com/kingsrook/qqq/backend/core/modules/backend/implementations/memory/MemoryRecordStore.java
index 255654ac..af8f49ca 100644
--- a/qqq-backend-core/src/main/java/com/kingsrook/qqq/backend/core/modules/backend/implementations/memory/MemoryRecordStore.java
+++ b/qqq-backend-core/src/main/java/com/kingsrook/qqq/backend/core/modules/backend/implementations/memory/MemoryRecordStore.java
@@ -175,8 +175,9 @@ public class MemoryRecordStore
       BackendVariantsConfig backendVariantsConfig = backendMetaData.getBackendVariantsConfig();
       if(backendVariantsConfig != null)
       {
-         String       variantType = backendMetaData.getBackendVariantsConfig().getVariantTypeKey();
-         Serializable variantId   = BackendVariantsUtil.getVariantId(backendMetaData);
+         String       variantType   = backendMetaData.getBackendVariantsConfig().getVariantTypeKey();
+         QRecord      variantRecord = BackendVariantsUtil.getVariantRecord(backendMetaData);
+         Serializable variantId     = variantRecord.getValue(QContext.getQInstance().getTable(variantRecord.getTableName()).getPrimaryKeyField());
          backendIdentifier = new Variant(variantType, variantId);
       }
       return backendIdentifier;
diff --git a/qqq-backend-core/src/test/java/com/kingsrook/qqq/backend/core/modules/backend/implementations/memory/MemoryBackendModuleTest.java b/qqq-backend-core/src/test/java/com/kingsrook/qqq/backend/core/modules/backend/implementations/memory/MemoryBackendModuleTest.java
index 09c826ed..80e17172 100644
--- a/qqq-backend-core/src/test/java/com/kingsrook/qqq/backend/core/modules/backend/implementations/memory/MemoryBackendModuleTest.java
+++ b/qqq-backend-core/src/test/java/com/kingsrook/qqq/backend/core/modules/backend/implementations/memory/MemoryBackendModuleTest.java
@@ -247,15 +247,24 @@ class MemoryBackendModuleTest extends BaseTest
       ))).getRecords().get(0).getValueInteger("id");
       assertEquals(1, planetId1);
 
-      ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-      // make sure counts return what we expect per-variant //
-      ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-      QContext.getQSession().setBackendVariants(Map.of(TestUtils.TABLE_NAME_MEMORY_VARIANT_OPTIONS, 2));
+      ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+      // make sure counts return what we expect per-variant                                         //
+      // also, put the variant ids as strings, just to make sure we're a little type-flexible there //
+      ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+      QContext.getQSession().setBackendVariants(Map.of(TestUtils.TABLE_NAME_MEMORY_VARIANT_OPTIONS, "2"));
       assertEquals(3, new CountAction().execute(new CountInput(TestUtils.TABLE_NAME_MEMORY_VARIANT_DATA)).getCount());
 
-      QContext.getQSession().setBackendVariants(Map.of(TestUtils.TABLE_NAME_MEMORY_VARIANT_OPTIONS, 1));
+      QContext.getQSession().setBackendVariants(Map.of(TestUtils.TABLE_NAME_MEMORY_VARIANT_OPTIONS, "1"));
       assertEquals(1, new CountAction().execute(new CountInput(TestUtils.TABLE_NAME_MEMORY_VARIANT_DATA)).getCount());
 
+      /////////////////////////////////////////////
+      // assert we fail if trying unknown variant //
+      /////////////////////////////////////////////
+      QContext.getQSession().setBackendVariants(Map.of(TestUtils.TABLE_NAME_MEMORY_VARIANT_OPTIONS, 4));
+      assertThatThrownBy(() -> new InsertAction().execute(new InsertInput(TestUtils.TABLE_NAME_MEMORY_VARIANT_DATA).withRecords(List.of(
+         new QRecord().withValue("id", 1).withValue("name", "England")
+      )))).hasMessageContaining("Could not find Backend Variant in table memoryVariantOptions with id '4'");
+
    }