Upland Blackberry Lambic

Brewed by Upland Brewing Company
Style: Lambic - Fruit
Bloomington, Indiana USA

Poured from a 750mL. Woah. Dense tart lactic acid nose, heavy in fruit kombucha, light acetic, and some strong, strong clean citric acid edging towards a dappled red fruit berry. Confused in the huckle-rasp-straw country. Pours a paler rose-tinted clear red-brown. Flavor isn’t as strong as I would like. Runs a more confused acetic-lactic funk acid. Not my favorite flavor. I’d like some more wheat and some more berry. The blackberry only really comes out in the finish and if asked, I probably couldn’t call it blackberry. There’s a faint edge of baby diaper. Not world class. Thin, hot and a bit searing. Not my favorite.

FOBAB 08’. First one of the day. Poured orange with a small head. Aroma was woody and tart. Taste was much the same, not much berry, as to be expected, nice acidity on the finish with lingered in the mouth. Nothing crazy complex, but still nice.

Hazy red-pink beer, thin white head. Aroma is lightly sour with a touch of mustiness. Light blackberry flavour with a bit of soft sourness. A bit of light fruitiness. A bit of sourness. It’s pretty tasty, but it seems a little indistinct to me.

750ml. Courtesy of tytoanderson. Pours Grapefruit pink color hazy with small fizzy white head. Nose is funky-sour-brett, fruits, salt, earthiness. The pungent delightful aroma really draws you in. Mouthfeel is very active carbonation, almost too much for my liking. Body is light. Initial taste is sour, fruits, berry, good amount of funk. Mid palate displays some earthiness. Rhubarb also becomes more apparent in this one. Finishing dry, sharp, sour, funk. Easy drinking, acidity is balanced. Very drinkable. Good palate duration.

750ml, 2008 release. Pours a rosy pink/violet color with a bright white head with pretty excellent retention for the style. Funkiness is apparent as soon as the cork pops off. Aroma shows beautiful funkiness mixed with blueberry pie filling. The brett/funk/sourness in the nose reminds me of Russian River, specifically Supplication. This also calls to mind the Peach lambic. I am starting to become a big fan of the Upland house funk character, these bugs are really nice, soft, and pleasant. The fruit is good too, very juicy and round though Blackberry is not completely identifiable - I get cherry and blueberry as well. Barnyard is low to non-existent. Some oaky vanilla flavor is in there too. Taste is pleasantly tart, medium high in intensity, with some ripe, tannic fruit following. The flavor is slightly watery and a bit too subtle for its own good. A bit more oomph would be welcome. I like the tartness where it is but if the sourness grew it would be fine too. Light bodied, very easy drinking, refreshing. The aroma is a knockout, the taste not so much. This is still good though.

750ml from the brewery, sent my way by the great StFun. Thanks, Josh. Lovely pour, with a full carbonation that releases a splendid aroma of subtle wood, delicate yeast, and inviting berry. There is a slightly dayglo color to the pale orange beer, almost pinkish, and some sizable carbonation. Wild yeasts everywhere in the initial sips, with a sharp finish. As the beer gets closer to room temp, the sweet and tart berries come to the fore. Nice, dry, gently fruity, and complex.

750mL cap and cork bottle. The beer pours a beautiful copper, orange, reddish, color. Its a hazy brew with a head that is big at first but fades super quick. Aroma is weird, a strong honey like earthiness with a very wild and fruity aspect that is hard to describe. Maybe this is a response to the weird combination of blackberry and brett. Bottom line, fruity, earthy, soiled diaper aroma. Taste is light rhubarb (even though I never had it in my life). Basically, a tart fruity pastry. A bit of zing at the end. The second pour is all thick and murky. Really changes the color of the beer, becomes a muddy purple color and adds a thickness to the beer. There is a very light acidity at the end of the flavor. I was really surprised that this was this good, and that this batch was actually well carbonated. This is definitely the best beer I have had with blackberries.

Pours a murky dark orange, almost no head. That said, the carbonation is lively... in fact, the bottle started hissing the second I popped open the cap. Fairly tart, but it is nicely balanced with the fruit flavor. The blackberries do not come on too strong, but they are detectable. Dry finish. Reminiscent of a farmhouse ale. Very nice effort.