Nashoba Valley Blackberry Ale

Brewed by Nashoba Valley Winery
Style: Fruit Beer
Bolton, Massachusetts USA

Serve in Flute

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on tap-pours a white head and gold color. Aroma is blackberry, banana. Taste is fermented blackberry, tart, banana-yeast, grain, creamy. OK carbonation.

2007 bottle drunk on 6/28/07
To say my expectations were low for this would be an understatement…. Anywho, it definitely seems to be a golden ale base (as advertised), with some pink-violet hues swirled in. Off-white head is flecked with pink and is quite dense, though small and eventually receding to ring, leaving patches of lace. Clear, with prominent carbonation.
Not as much going on in the nose (wait til the flavor) and I’m not sure how it manages to be so flavorful yet shows too much restraint in the aroma, but that seems to be the case. That said, there’s nothing bad going on here, your typical base malt vanilla-honey-cream backdrop with minimal blackberry acids and light, doughy yeast. Picks up some steam with warming and gets quite a good deal more aromatic in the blackberry department, though a gentle malt creaminess helps maintain balance, and its beer character.
Unprepared for the flavor, I was blown away by the intensely creamy, but importantly, not cloying body/flavor. Definitely a good deal of blackberry sugars, but tons of malt softness that lends a honey-cream and graham cracker flavor, bordering on a bit of toffee/caramel. It dosent match the blackberry in stride, as far as flavor compatibility and there’s a touch of butteriness (not diacetyl though), but you can’t deny the wonderful body and strong beer character, which is about as rare as it gets for a beer like this (that black raspberry beer from Sly Fox was pretty on par with this too). More malt forward, and the blackberries lend a predictable fruity, sweet flavor, but there’s definitely an afterthought of tartness on the finish, which is just icing on the cake. No alcohol or flaws noted. I’ll probably grab another bottle of this if I see it.

Pours a semi-cloudy orange/tan color leaving a thin faintly purple head that disappears quickly. The aroma is sour grapes, musty blanket, blackberry, honey, and lemon grass. The taste starts tart but moves to a sweetness like candy a sweet tart in partcular, then you quickly get a hay, powdery, lactic mouthfeel on the palate. The finish is dry very carbonated similar to a fruit wine with heat from the alcohal overall a decent brew and pretty refreshing.

sampled at the brewery. lightly hazy orange/golden in color. Aroma is fresh blackberry, smells nice and fresh, and lightly tart/sour. It tastes like a standard golden ale, with alot of fresh blackberries coming through. the fruit throws off a bit of tartness and light funkyness, which may or may not have been intended, but I enjoyed it.

UPDATED: OCT 18, 2005 Bottle, from winery. Ok nose, Sweet. Blackbery, oak, viny. Blackberry has that sour candy kind of scent. Hazy purply orange color, small head that faded to a small ring. Sweet, tart flavors. Like aroma with the Blackberry oak viny thing plus a little maple and vermouth. Medium body, creamy syrupy, smooth mouthfeel, bitter sour finish. Find myself diggin this, has lambic notes about it.