Tyranena Glenn & Debs Bourbon Barrel-Aged Blueberry Kinda-Lambic

Brewed by Tyranena Brewing
Style: Fruit Beer
Lake Mills, Wisconsin USA

On tap at Tyranena. Poured a deeper brownish / amber color with a small sized off white head. Aromas of funkiness, leather, wood, trace of vanilla, and blueberries. Tastes of wood, the same funkiness, and blueberries (some blueberry muffins). The blueberries where there, but not overpowering. Starts out lightly sweet and ends lightly tart. The barrel aging was done nicely (it wasn’t over powering and added to both the armoas and flavors nicely). I really liked this one and its a shame I couldn’t get a Growler of it!

(Draught) Pours a lightly hazy dark amber with a small beige head. Aroma of blueberry, grass, caramel, wood, horseblanket, and light vanilla. Flavor of blueberries, bread, caramel, vinous, and some wood in the finish.

Dark copper color with a hint of garnet. Small white head that settles quite quickly to a small ring of bubbles about the edge of the glass. Aromas of light dough, dry malts, faint oak, grape skins, mild blueberries and cherries. Lightly toasted malt flavors coupled with oak, and a sweet-sour zip. I don’t catch much bourbon, more oak than anything. Only a slight sourness that seems to remind me of peach pits. Certainly drinkable and light in feel. I’d have no problem with a few of these on a hot summer day.

On draught at the brewery’s taproom in Lake Mills, Wisconsin. Pours a clear dark cola caramel brew with a fast dissolving off-white head that leaves behind a bubbly ring. Aroma of spritzy sour cherry, sour berries, vanilla with a touch of brown sugar, and toasted malt. Taste is sweet, medium bodied, lots of carbonation, aged oak with a sweet bourbon secondary flavor. Finish is smooth, slightly tart with a sweet bourbon aftertaste. Brewmaster informed me that only two barrels were made and is available only at the brewery taproom.

On tap at Tyranena (about 3 pints’ worth). Poured a clear darker amber with just a ring for head. The aroma picked up sweet and tangy blueberry skins with some underlying wheaty notes.. warmth and subsequent glasses brought out much more of the bourbon barrel influence in the form of vanilla, toasted oak, and bourbon sweetness.. this was a pleasant and powerfully-intriguing concoction!

The flavor found mild vinegar and blueberry skin tartness on the tip of the tongue followed by sweeter blueberry, vanilla, and bourbon notes across the middle.. left a grainy toasted oak presence on the dry finish. Medium-bodied and complex on the palate.. only catch is that it drops off toward the back of the mouth (but the residual sweetness returns for a long encore after the finish). Many kudos for attempting (and succeeding at) something like this!

GTMW 2009. Poured a clear amber color with an off white head. Nice aromas of tart blueberry, black pepper, subdued cider vinegar, and oak. Medium bodied with light acidity. Lots of oak flavor with black pepper and subdued notes of fresh blueberry and toffee. I liked this one more than I had anticipated.

I am very sensitive to bourbon in my beer, but gladly there wasn’t all that much of it here, though some in the aroma. Not much alcohol presence. Aroma and flavor have yeast and real blueberry. Moderate malt, but it is dry grain malt character, and lightly roasted. Just a hint of sourness. If a brewer finds a way to get real blueberry flavor into a beer, I will probably like it. Definitely not a lambic.

Tap at Tyranena. Pours to a rusty mahogany body with a tiny white ring head. The flavor is toasted specialty malt up front mixed with oak and a nice blueberry and light tart grain on the finish. The aroma is light blueberry but significant enough to notice with subtle tartness and an ever-so-light funk. More malt in this one than anything else. The mouthfeel is a touch watery but it has a nice subtle tartness and a light velvet texture when swished. An experiment... I’d have to say that they went a bit light on the funk or simply opened it too early.