Cascade Blueberry

Brewed by Cascade Brewing
Style: Sour Ale/Wild Ale
Portland, Oregon USA

Serve in Snifter, Tulip, Tumbler

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Thanks to 5000 for sending this bottle my way. Andre always is there with a great PNW hookup. Purple-blue pour with a white head. There is some nice blueberry notes in the flavor and aroma, but that is accompanied by some nice funk, vanilla and oak. There is some nice tartness but it is not overpowering and the fruit is still allow to come through. Quite complex. Medium mouthfeel and medium carbonation.

Bottle shared with some dads. Pours a purple pink body with nice lacing. Aroma is tart blueberry. Mouthfeel is medium and tart with light funk, lots of blueberries and some tart candy in the background. Pretty straight forward blueberry sour ale.

From the April 2013 3R6P beer tasting. +++ Sampled from a 750 ml corked brown bottle this beer poured a very dark plum-blood red color with a medium sized foamy pink head that left a bit of lacing. The aroma was funky, tart, sour, vague berries, pepper and Sweettart candies. the flavor was dry, tart and sour with funk, chalk and strong tart berries. Very long dry, tart and sour berry and funk finish. Medium body. Interesting.

Bottle sampled at Muckfest III. Pours a clear reddish purple color with a thin head. Aroma of blueberries, malt and tartness. Malty flavor turning to blueberry pie before a tart finish. Very nice.

Courtesy of 5000 via trade.

Bottle: The aroma consists of blueberries and just a touch of lemon. It pours a mostly transparent purplish-red with a touch of haze and a minimal head. The flavor starts with a quick dose of blueberry. The finish has light-moderate musty lemon and some light funk. It’s light bodied with moderate carbonation.

750mL bottle generously shared by PaulUnwin. Cheers, Paul! Pours a hazy reddish color with a white head. Nose is blueberry flesh, slight vinegar, berry skins, a bit of band aid, and some nice sour qualities. Flavor is similar with blueberry flesh, slight dark fruit, small vinegar, some earthy/ band aid flavor, and berry skins with some fruit on the finish. Interesting beer.

Bottle @ Copenhagen Beer Celebration. Pours hazy dark red with a small offwhite head. Aroma is light sour with cherries, blueberries, yeast, oak. Taste is light sour with tart fruit, blueberries but also cherries and sour red apples, dusty. Thin body, low carbonation. 120512

Tap @ Cascade Barrel House... Poured reddish/pink with a thin, bubbly head. Nose had some tangy yogurt, buttery, lactic acid and faint blueberries. Tasted of blueberries and sweet tarts with some acidic sourness. No bitterness, sour and a highly lactic. The usual from Cascade with a hint of blueberries.

Sample at Stone sour ale fest 2012. Bubbly clear reddish purple pour. Very nice blueberry aroma, mmm fresh blueberry. Flavor is tart lemon, blueberry, grain, and moderate sourness. Nice and refreshing, and not too over the top compared to other cascade sours. It would be great on hot summer day.

Just a slow enough of a gusher that I was able to get it into my glass. I end up with three fingers worth of pale purple tinged foam up to the rim of my glass and two fingers and growing above the rim that I suck down rather than risk it collapsing over the sides. The beer is a concentrated, dark purple color that shows a clear, bright red hue when held up to the light, in addition to a mad stream of bubbles rising from all parts of the glass. The aroma smells of bright berries, a nice lactic tartness, and a funkiness that leans towards phenolics, slight plastic notes, and an ample mustiness. There is also a nice, pale cracker like grain character here, that once you dig around for it, becomes quite noticeable. After I notice it in the flavor, the oak character is much more prevalent in the nose; spicy, with a supporting toasted woody oak character that accentuates the light malt aromatics.

Tart, though not aggressively sour, much of the tartness seems to come from the blueberries. The beer is quite dry, but there is still quite a bit of blueberry flavor to this beer, especially in the finish with a palate coating, sometimes astringent, bright blueberry flavor that tastes of blueberry skins even. Subsequent sips has me noticing even more of the blueberries, but there is also a nice, pale wheat / grain cracker character here in the middle. The sourness has a lactic character to it as well as the fruit-derived acidity, in all it is a nice, clean acidity. Touches of funky, musty, slightly plastic like phenolics linger in the finish. The beer starts out quite light bodied on the palate, but as it warms up a touch of roundness is picked up; it has a soft fullness to it that coats the palate nicely. A supporting oak character accentuates the pale malt character, but also lingers in the finish with a light spiciness and a light lingering woody flavor.

As with all Cascade beers I have had so far, this is straight forward and a bit simplistic; it does have a touch of funkiness to it, though the sourness seems to be a touch on the light side of the spectrum. Still this is definitely a tasty beer that I am quite happy to be sampling. I do like the juicy blueberry character that this beer has, though it isn’t over the top in the way that some Lambics can be.