Cascade Blackberry Ale

Brewed by Cascade Brewing @ Raccoon Lodge
Style: Sour Ale
Portland, Oregon USA

750 ml bottle courtesy of Ken and Rich at Über. Dark and cloudy maroon with pale head. Aroma of fruit and malt. Full bodied, sour with background of sweetish blackberries. Finish of oak and slight hoppiness with a bit of must.

bottle by way of RiversideAK shared with the phoenix crew.

pours a very dark brown amber with a touch of purple-y syrah/blackberry juice color. it’s topped by a large foamy pink tinted tan head. the aroma is full of real blackberries though not quite ripened. it’s also a bit vinous... kinda burgundian pinot mixed with faint caramel-y malt, grass and a touch of smokey barrel wood. the palate is very tart and very dry... true unripened blackberries and caramel malt yet little to no residual sweetness. digging deeper i find vanilla, flowers and some oak along with what seems like some tannins. though it may just be the fruit skins and seeds? i don’t really get much sour... the tartness seems to come from the fruit. light to medium bodied and crisp on the tongue. the lack of sugar makes it feel a bit thinner in the mouth.

i’m diggin’ this one next to a surly coffee bender. the bitterness in the coffee makes the malt jump out from behind the dry blackberry brew! 7/4/7/3/16/3.7

Sample courtesy of hellbilly at the hellbilly holiday tasting. Good blackberry aroma. Red body with pink head. Good beery flavor along with some sour and tart, good mix. Thanks Josh

Sample courtesy of hellbilly at the hellbilly holiday tasting. Deep maroon color pour with a foamy pink head. Aroma of berries and malt. Flavor of slightly under-ripe, sour raspberries. Very good when mixed with a bit of impy stout. Very tasty brew. Thanks Joshua!

Sample courtesy of hellbilly at his holiday tasting. Pours a hazy maroon with an off white head. Nose is sour unripe blackberries and malt. Taste is sour blackberry, vinegar, light aspirin and a touch of malt. Not much oak presence detected. Medium mouth feel. Decent. Thanks Josh!

Dark reddish purple with a nice head. The aroma is nice of fresh blackberries and lactic tartness. Not super strong in the aroma, and it comes across somewhat as a muted winelike thing. Has nice soft flavors of blackberry combined with lots of lactic tartness, sour dryness. A touch oaky like a strong red wine or something. I liked this one and bought a bottle on the way out.

Dark red with a smooth off-white head. Fruity cherry and earthy malt up front, soft acidity and tart finish. Not as sharp as some them, but I enjoyed the easier acidity.

Very well carbonated, I get two fingers of beer and about five-fingers of head in my 25cl tulip glass after a reasonable pour. The head is a tight, tan colored head and the beer is a deep, purple / amber color that shows a hazy, cherry red color when held up to the light. The aroma has quite a bi of dark, fresh berry / light jam fruit notes to it. Underneath this is some cracker like malt, a light tartness, a touch of mustiness and some substantial toasted malt character (this last only if you are really digging around, but it is significant). The fruit is definitely the most noticeable aromatic note of this beer, but it is not overly strong and allows the other notes to come through pretty easily. The nose is pretty tame though, only faintly tart and there isn’t much in the way of funkiness. As the beer warms a musty, almost woody, damp wood aroma starts to become noticeable.

Lightly tart tasting, more like a fruit derived acidity than anything. The beer finishes with a tart, unsweetened, berry juice like flavor. This beer is pretty darn dry and actually pretty light bodied as well. There is a touch of tannic structure (seemingly contributed by a sort of berry skin character and a touch of oak) that keeps this from being watery.

With a very careful second pour I get an almost even split between head and beer. The head, once it stops growing actually falls fairly quickly, but doesn’t seem to completely disappear. I retained a lot more of the carbonation in the second pour and the beer becomes quite fizzy as it hits my tongue. There seems to be an almost roast character to the finish and there is definitely some toasty malt character here. The flavor is dominated by tart, fruity flavors, though not overly so. This is definitely lacking a tartness approaching that found in most sour beers, and I could almost be convinced that the acidity is solely derived from the blackberries. As the beer warms it begins to pick up a jam like berry character without really picking up much in the way of sweetness.

Definitely a bit disappointing, I was quite excited to see this called a "Belgian Flanders Style Red Ale," unfortunately I would be hard pressed to call this anything but a fruit beer. The typical tartness and balancing funkiness, plus the caramelized malt character is all lacking here. Not a bad beer, just needs a substantial boost before it can live up to its "style" designation.