Upland Blueberry Lambic

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

GTMW 08 - Pours clear bronze with a little head. The aroma is lactic with dry blueberry with plenty of sour citric present. Medium / light body with an over abundance of carbonation. The flavor starts very lactic with dry blueberries, lots of sourness, but some sweetness as well. The finish is grainy and dry with puckering blueberries. This is nice, but it seems more like a sour fruit beer than a lambic.

Bottle GTMW 2008 Lactic, sour berry aroma. Taste is sour, tart and berry. Sweet, then sour lingering finish. Mouth-puckering sourness. This one was awesome.

Special pouring during GTMW ’08 at 3 pm via 750 ml bottle. Pours a hazy and contaminated bluish purple lambic with a fizzy light blue/white head that slowly dissipates and leaves behind a thin bubbly ring. Aroma of tart blueberries, some yeast, barnyard funk, a touch of lemon zest, and some dark berries. Taste has a dry tart blueberry flavor, with yeast and colby cheese. Finish has a dry blueberry tart and bread aftertaste, but does not stand out as well as the strawberry and blackberry versions.

The Dan Journal #216. 750ml bottle tasted 7/22/08. Filtered with a ruby hue. Trace off-white head. Tart and tangy Bret aromas. Notes of cranberries and blueberries. Medium bodied and tart palate. Oaky soggy grains and lemons. Vinegar. Vinuous and puckering. Overt palate. Somewhat muddles. Too much.

750ml bottle. Thanks to miketd for sharing. Aroma: Wheat malt hits me first, and then a strong dose of blueberry. Smells tart, but no funk to speak of. Some light oakiness comes forward as it warms. Appearance: Rose/purple in color and slightly hazed. Head was small and fizzy with a noticeable blue tint. No lacing. Flavor: Wheat malt hits me first again. Blueberry flavor is nice with a good blend of berry flavor, sweetness, and a strong tartness. Some lemon, slight cheesiness, and oak. Not as tart as I was expecting, but seems to work here. Very dry finish. Palate: Medium bodied. Medium carbonation. Overall: An interesting beer, and one I’m glad I tried. Some more funk would have been welcome.

Bottle from miketd’s tasting

My second in the series of the Upland lambics this one was interesting. If the Cantillon blueberry is anything like this I look forward to giving it a try. This one has a novelty aspect but in the end won’t sway me from the more common lambic formats (cherries, raspberries, etc).

Aroma / Appearance - The purple body was definitely unusual enough to indicate that this was not a run of the mill beer. A strange off color head only added to the mystery. Blueberries and oak melded with a strong tartness that ranks about halfway down the sour scale. Perhaps I am used to the Belgian releases but I was expecting just a little more funkiness.

Flavor / Palate - Sour blueberries present themselves a few seconds after taking a sip. This slow release gave me time to adapt to the tartness in stages rather than having it hit all at once. The dry vinous finish was not unlike a good red wine. A cross between Cherry Coke and Dr Pepper adds to the intrigue. Overall this was an nice experiment; I look forward to the kiwi version coming soon.

25 oz bottle. Pours a clear amber body with a slightly purple tinge. Very small fizzy soda-like head that completely vanished. Nice tart and slightly funky nose with some nice overripe blueberries. Just a hint of band-aid phenols and a touch of wood. Nicely tart and slightly acidic, it’s bursting with real blueberry flavor. Great bone dry finish with oak tannins and some apple cider vinegar. Mouthfeel is very authentic, dry and slightly biting in it’s acidity. Nice lingering funky finish after the acidity fades. Second pour is much more murky and muddled because of the heavy yeast sediment, it started to remind me of a fruit roll-up. Very good, but much better and vibrant on the first pour.

Thanks to eyedrinkale for bringing this gem out. Light hazy purple/blue colour with a light white head. Aroma is loaded with fresh blueberry behind a rich tart funkiness. Lightly lactic, fruity and funky with soft cherry fruitiness, bretty funkiness. Perfumy and rich with a sharp lingering sourness.