Maine Coast Wild Blueberry Ale

En fût. Verre de dégustation chez Jack Russell’s Steakhouse & Brewery (Bar Harbor, ME). Arôme: Odeur de bleuets. Apparence: La couleur ets ambrée légèrement voilée. Présence d’un mince col mousseux et d’une fine dentelle sur le verre. Saveur: Goût de bleuets légèrement amer. Durée moyenne de l’arrière goût. Palette: Le corps et la texture sont mince. Faible effervescence en bouche. Présence d’amertume venant de la pulpe des bleuets en arrière goût. (Rating #1796)

Any first impressions?
-An immense opaque head throned over the rusty brown clarity.
-The sweet, fruity perfume of blueberries reached my nostrils even before the waitress set the pint glass on our table.
-The first half of the sip is full of blueberry sweetness, the second half of its dry and lightly tart skin.
-The mouthfeel appears bloated (some nitro?), but fits the pie clone attempt.

What if you dig deeper?
-A toasty, dry finish cuts the fruity wave just enough to make you want to get another gulp.
-A brown ale base could have yielded more malt flavors to render complexity.
-A smidge of buttery fat emboldens the rich blueberry nose.
-Quite the idiosyncratic fruit beer; not up to New Glarus levels of course, but this batch was pleasantly flavorful.

On tap at the brewery restaurant.

Pours a cream, five-finger+ head that goes very slowly and leaves a chunks of lace. Amber color. Medium carbonation and medium bodied. Strong bluberry nose. Starts sweet, blueberry flavor is not overwhelming, dry finish with some hops barely lingering. $2.13 for a 12oz bottle from Bayside Liquors Bar Harbor, Me.

Ok, so this one finally works, but I think it is only coincidence. On draught at the brewery, 8/14/2005. The little, bittersweet wild blueberries are fresh and real in here and well-prepared for the corky, rusty yeast assault. Good crisp mouthfeel, low, pleasing carbonation, kind of feels like an Abbey Trippel, dry and perfumey. Light grainy malt and tons of tartness/dryness from the yeast. A touch of sweet honey malt on the end. Light to medium-light bodied. Huge foamy head, moderate retention and a pale-copper-golden appearance with some rusty earthen-clay tones and the head being white.
The crazy, drying, sourish yeast works, coincidentally, I have to believe, because it keeps this fruit beer tart and dry, as a good fruit beer should be (in my opinion).

Pours copper with no real head to speak of. Smell and taste was dominated by blueberries (one of my favorite berries), but fell way short of the other Bar Harbor area blueberry offerings.

Tasted fresh before it even touched the bottle. This is the best blueberry beer I’ve ever had! I dont like blueberries, and I dont like fruit beers (which this should be in for a category). The smell is pleasent dominated by blueberries. Flavor is pretty good, they say it’s based on the brown ale then they add the extracts to get the blueberry flavor. Thank god the blueberry extract somehow gets rid of the poor tastes in their brown. This is the king of blueberry beers.

Pours a surprising ruby red. Clear with a small white head. Smells strongly of blueberries but not overpoweringly sweet. Light malt aromas. Taste is very nice! Not what I was expecting after the aroma. Bitter and tart, not syrupy sweet like so many fruit beers. Creamy malt. Low carbonation with the blueberry bitterness coming through and finishing with a light sweet flavor. Bluebery flavors actually complement the beer and don’t drown it out. (Imagine that!) A nice medium bodied ale. I like the taste of the darker malt with the bluberries in contrast to other fruit beers that have light wheat malt. This one actually stands up well to the bluberries. I would put this blueberry ale right up there with Bar Harbor Blueberry Ale as two beers that have mastered this style. Head and shoulders above the rest.

The color a translucent burnished copper color, the head frothy and light tan also modest in stature with the lace a velum like sheet to coat the glass. Nose is blueberry sweet, fresh, crisp and quite pleasing to the senses, start is nicely malted and somewhat sweet, top is thin. Finish is mild in its carbonation, hops subdued and the taste of blueberries quite evident though out, drinkable, and pleasant enough, but a bit to thin-waisted to get much respect from me.