OFallon Blackberry Scottish Ale

Brewed by OFallon Brewery
Style: Fruit Beer
OFallon, Missouri USA

This is a bit of a ho-hum beer. The color is a clear medium brown. The aroma is mostly malty, but there’s this artificial-like fruitiness that is a bit off-putting. The flavor is much the same. It’d be just a boring beer without the attempt at the fruit, but that fruit, even if it is real, doesn’t really mesh well with the beer.

Bottle - fruity, malty and smokey aroma. Deep brown colored, but opaque, with a beige head. Smoke is the predominate flavor. Malt and the blackberry float in and out and smoke reappears in the finish. Very interesting! I’d have a very hard time calling this a fruit beer, though. Good!

12oz bottle-An aroma of blackberry on a dark amber body with a head that dissipates into a thin lace. A smoky taste throughout with a blackberry taste on the front end. Not very much malt character for a scottish ale. Too much smoked taste tastes like it came from the smoked porter.

Pours a brilliant amber/brown with a fizzy dirty white head. As the bubbles pop in the head, it sounds like Rice Krispies. The aroma wreeks of that fake fruit flavoring that I can get at the homebrew shop. To me, not much of the malt get through in the nose. The flavor is just okay. Some peaty smoke, and light roast bitterness get through, but the fruit comes off syrupy. Way too much carbonation make this an almost harsh drink, I can’t say that I really enjoy this one very much.

Poured a deep-hazed copper/sepia with a foamy-to-fizzy cream-colored head. Aromas of burnt grain, dank hopping, light smoke, nuttiness and ice cream. Flavor finds caramel malt and mild, fruity sweet/sourness that is not overdone. Mid-bodied with a sugar-water mouthfeel and a dirty, dry finish. More of a Scotch Ale with fruity edges than a Fruit Beer.

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"...subtle hint of blackberry..." My buttocks! Handsome pour, a clear light brown body with a fizzy off-white head. The aroma is tolerable, caramel and butterscotch with the blackberry SUBTLY creeping in. The flavor is dominated by the fruit coupled with an odd nutty bitterness and the faintest trace of smoke. Finishes on a SUBTLE fruit note.

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Bottled. Poured a coppery-orange with a short cap of beige head... some light sediment suspended in there. Nose was of lightly-processed blackberries, toasty caramel and butterscotch, grassy hops, and hints of cheese. I was afraid that the berries would dominate the flavor, but they undertook a nice complementary role instead... along with toasted caramel, toffee, and grassy & piney hops. The back-end may have a tiny bit of peat to it. Sweet and lighter-bodied on the palate. Smoky berry finish was kinda cool. Solid beer and definitely exceeded expectations!

Draft samples at the St Louis Microfest 5/13/06: This presents dark brown with a good tan topping. It’s got a different smoky edge to it with the berry on top. Pretty good offering from one of my emerging favorite brewers.