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!

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.

On tap at brewery

I hit Tyranena on a moderately busy Friday night to give this beer a try. I hope it makes an appearance at the Great Taste of the Midwest so more people can be exposed to it. It’s an interesting experiment in styles - part fruit beer and part brown ale.

Aroma / Appearance - The glass came filled with a deep brown body that was moderately transparent. A one finger head graced the top for a few minutes. Oak, blueberries and funk are the primary scents but a little concentration reveals the brown ale base. It’s subtle but evident, providing a nice compliment to the fruitiness.

Flavor / Palate - The first sip tastes much like a standard brown ale (simple and dry). Shortly after that the fruitiness begins to unfold in the form of oak and blueberries. The tart dryness of the ’lambic’ is offset by the tealike characteristics of the brown ale. It is very drinkable - you can either take your time or down it quickly, whichever is your preference. If Dogfish Head were to release this I’d expect them to call it "Brown and Blue". My overall impression is like a blend of iced tea and blueberry Izze.

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 sampler beer #4. I’m adding that magical 10th rating to give this beer its rank: First sour beer of the day has a very nice summer sour beer smell. In taster glass it’s brown but clear, like a brown ale (duh!) slight carbonation. Not very sour taste yet, seems a little young for the brett or whatever to have done much work. Not much bourbon or oak to it yet, but I’ve rarely met a sour beer I didn’t like. Sourness aside, a nice smooth mouthfeel.

Somehow Jessie was able to bring a growler of this to the Tyranena tasting at Three Cellars. It seems that Rob mad e a small batch of it. Aroma had a wine like texture,if your patient, you’ll be rewarded with a blueberry frangrance,along with oaky malting,you just have to work at it alittle. Certainly looks more like a wine than a beer, It even has just a light film of agitation bubbles on top, Im not good with colors but this looks like a mahogoney. Taste is certainy a winey fruit flavoralmost like a cranberry -blueberry mixture, really never gets sweet,has the tartness of fruit skin,doesn’t havethe sourness or funkiness that you taste in Belgium lambics. Just can’t pull out any of that bourbon still smooth and very pleasing in the finish

Sampled at GTMW 2009 (Madison, WI). Pours an interesting lightly hazed dark amber, small offwhite head that coats, laces fair enough. Aromas are an interesting meshing of barrel oak, dry and vanilla, bourbon with mellow blueberry. Intitial is some prickly tart notes, not as full as anticipated, but nice lambic tartness with bourbon vanilla and oak feel. Lighter, finish tart and oaky. Bourbon barrel becomes more prominent in the end. I like this, but it lacked body.