Samuel Adams Blackberry Witbier
By
(1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
Loading ...
I’m not a big fan of fruit beers. Drinking a beer brewed with raspberries generally makes me cringe, and I firmly believe blueberries belong in pancakes instead of beer. I’ve had a scant number of good fruit beers during this one-a-day challenge, so I’m still leery of the style.
After going out to dinner with my wife, I found myself back at home with about two hours in which to drink my beer for the day. Sam Adams Blackberry Witbier was cold in my refrigerator — I’ve been putting off drinking it for some time — so I grabbed the bottle.
I wasn’t expecting much, but the Blackberry Witbier beer wasn’t too bad. Perhaps that’s why the Blackberry Witbier was selected as the most recent addition to the “Beer Lover’s Choice” brews.
The Samuel Adams website seems to credit the blackberries for the beer’s ease of drinking:
The blackberries we use in Samuel Adams® Blackberry Witbier are perfect for this brew. They deliver a subtle sweetness that balances the traditional citrus flavors from the witbier. The blackberries used in Samuel Adams Blackberry Witbier are sourced from family farms, located at the foot of the Oregon Trail and Cascade Mountains in Western Oregon, where they have been growing some of the best blackberries in the world for centuries. By bringing the blackberries, orange and coriander together with an appealing malt character and a spiciness from the hops, we’ve brewed a flavorful beer with a smooth finish that’s both sweet and tart.
The color was pale and cloudy, with more amber than I would expect from a witbier. As for aroma, it was yeasty and citrusy, carrying a cautious fruit smell that rounded out the nose. The taste was yeasty, spicy, and pleasantly bitter. Complementing the taste was a delicate fruitiness that managed to capture the essence of real blackberries without going overboard.
A good (or at least tolerable) fruit beer must not taste like an artificial sweetener, and by that measure the Sam Adams Blackberry Witbier makes the grade. But with that said, nothing really stood out to me about this beer. The blackberry flavor seemed to do more than simply balance the citrus — it tamed the beer, making it less crisp and less robust than most witbiers.
No related posts.
2 Comments
May 20th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
I liked this one because it tasted more subtle than overly sweet or cloying. And I love me a fruit beer that I can drink more than one of without feeling ill.
July 27th, 2009 at 11:58 am
[...] Samuel Adams – Blackberry Witbier [...]