Blackberry Porter
Oregon Trail Brewery

 

Oregon Trail tags this as a “Belgian Style Blackberry Porter”. Such a convoluted definition begs to be shot down in a semantic crossfire. Belgium, of course, does not produce porters. And although it would not surprise me in the least if that great beerish nation brewed something with blackberries, I’m not aware that they use that particular fruit in any of their famed lambics.

(Semantics are a recurrent peeve of mine. If you should see lather frothing from my mouth upon the open dictionary in my hands, please just hand me a sandwich and tell me it’s nothing to get worked up about.)

Ignoring key descriptives for the moment, this brew is a complex and inventive blend derived from one-fourth brown ale and three-fourths bourbon cask-conditioned porter with a generous influx of blackberry extract syrup. The resulting integration of flavors is artistic, elegant, and downright sexy. The aroma is immediately bourbon infused and strong. The taste is a baroque interplay of bourbon-porter smokiness, blackberry fruitiness, and a sweet alcohol flavor that suggests a secondary fermentation from the blackberries. This would account for the wine-like properties that shape both the smell and the taste. A smart puckering tartness wends its way through the finish.

This brew is dark brown that touches upon the threshold of black with a slight trace of midnight purple. The head and lace are sketchy but are not missed.

This rich multifarious recipe likely won’t appeal to popular tastes but will be of great interest to connoisseurs. I first sampled OT’s Blackberry Porter with a group of two-dozen international hops industry specialists and this beer was especially popular among visiting Belgians. Go figure.