Cascade Blackberry Ale

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

Bottle thanks to BVC. Another outstanding one from in my opinion the underrated Cascade brewery. Nice tart sour, but not so sour that the the sweetness and fruit flavors do not come through. Well balanced and a joy to drink.

Bottle. Pours dark reddish brown with a bubbly peach head. Sweet blackberries, oak, whiskey, sour apple, and brown sugar in the nose. Tastes mostly the same. Lots of carbonation. This is really good.

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.

In short: A fruity beer (NOT a sour ale) packing a lot of dark berry flavours and an interesting dryness. Great stuff. But NOT a sour ale.
How: Bottle 750ml. Post-EBF tasting session #1 at dmac hotel room.
The look: Dark purple body topped by medium pinky-beige head
In long: Even if it is an excellent beer there’s not a lot to say about this one. This is a fruit beer, this is NOT a sour beer. There’s no funk in here, no wilderness and just about no sourness either. Big body filled with dry fruity flavours of blackberries, blueberries and blackcurrant. This bottle really pack A LOT of dark berries giving the sensation of an unsweetened dark berry jam. Also notes of wood/oak and an inexplicable dryness that brings this beer up into excellence territory. Only problem was the overly intense soda-pop carbonation. I find this beer is to dark berries what NG Belgian Red is to cherries or what NG Raspberry Tart is to raspberries (although really not as good as this last one). The difference is that Cascade Blackberry is rather dry as far as fruit beers are concerned. Looking at rave reviews that NG Belgian Red and NG Raspberry Tart are getting it is pretty obvious to me that this beer is victim of its Sour Ale marketing. Nicole Kidman is smoking hot but she’d get a lot of customer complaints if she took a part-time job at Hollyboob Bib Boobies Escort Services.

750. Thanks, Hogfodder! Pours black with a dense, rocky, and creamy tan head. Big, sharp, fruity, sweet blackberry nose. Medium, creamy body. The berry essense is blended effortlessly and cohesively into the body of a very drinkable light beligan ale. Never overpoweringly sweet, and never given over to hanging back to relying on a simple belgian structure, either. Great, balanced, fruit beer.

Pours the color of blackberry preserves, with a little dark caramel color in the highlights. Lasting ring of pinkish ecru head. Aroma is very oaky with sweet milk chocolate notes and unripe berries. Flavor is blackberry seeds with raspberry cordial sweetness. Solid tartness but not sour by any means. Obvious oak influence. A little too bubbly at first but it settles down. Finish is pleasantly dry. Way better than the Kriek.

750ml bottle, pours a dark purple brown with an off white/pinkish head. Aroma of blackberries, dark fruit, oak, a hint of chocolate, yeasty funk. Flavor is blackberries, slightly tart, some oak, hints of chocolate and a slight touch of vanilla. Sweet and tart finish. Very enjoyable in this summery weather we’ve been enjoying here in So Cal.

Rating #1100. 750 ml waxed and capped bottle purchased mail order directly from the brewery. Pour is purple, black, ruby - cloudy. One inch tan head head falls with nice lacing. Pretty in the glass. Taste is earthy, tart blueberry, some sweetness maltiness. All the flavors are well integrated with nothing jumping out of place. Palate is mouth coating, with a pronounced bright bitterness to the finish. Another delicious beer from Cascade. Thanks for doing mail order Art and Ron!