Brewberry
Cape May Brewing Company

 

 

This was yet another beer that I bought at Total Wine a few weeks back and got around to on this cool and calm night. Haven't had anything from Cape May in quite some time and this was the first can that I tried from them, and it was a bit of an oddity. It was not a typical Stout in terms of the taste or mouthfeel but I found this to be fun, different, and intriguing from start to finish, as it got better once it fully warmed up.

Interesting pour to this as it had a blueberry hue with a good amount of light seeping in around the extreme edges with a violet-coffee head topping this off. That was quite fine and long-lasting as it offset the liquid quite nicely. Lots of thin and wavy lacing lingered as it got more splotchy and numerous the farther down my pint glass I went. Loads of funky, earthy blueberry in the nose along with feet, Mosaic dankness, and fruit patch as the sugary, sweet jam and exotic, mountainous coffee emerged in the taste and threw me for a bit of a loop. A very subtle and persistent chocolatey undertone and growing homemade jammy sweetness combined to make this quite complex and conflicting on the palate as it took me a while to warm up to this, as this fully warmed up.

Enough booze was in this but this wasn't a thick or potent beer as it felt stronger than it was in actuality. The aftertaste could have been less sweet and sticky as the carbonation could have been more prevalent so this wouldn't feel as heavy on the palate. Canned on 1/29 of this year, this held up well over time as it tasted fresh without any sediment in it. Glad I gave it a go but this was an odd beer that probably wouldn't appeal to a wide audience. If you want something different and off the beaten path, give this a go knowing it tastes like dessert and has an aftertaste like a cup of Starbucks!

Pours a reddish-purple tinged black color. Closer to a matte color than shiny. Completely opaque even when held to the light. Thin purple tinged off-white head dissolves pretty quickly leaving just a thin slick of foam on the top of the beer. Similar to the top of soda poured into the glass, fizzy bubbles continuously pop on the top of the beer giving this a very soda-like appearance.

Aroma has notes of jammy-berries - definitely conveying some sugary sweetness on the nose, with some light notes of roasted malts. Oddly Im getting very little coffee on this - and coffee is vernally incredibly easy to pick up in coffee beers.

Taste has notes of coffee (there it is!), tart blueberry juice and some light roasted malts. This beer is one of those times where the feel and the taste are really inseparable as they contribute to how the other is perceived. This beer is very "fizzy" and definitely on the thin side - that results in it seeming like there is blueberry soda in this. And because of that I'm perceiving the blueberry in that way. This is listed as an imperial stout, but its so thin that it really does not seem like an imperial anything ... The blueberries do provide a bit of tartness - the coffee is subtle to a fault. There are some light notes of roasted malts with hints of chocolate.

Overall its an interesting beer - I love the idea - but I personally found the execution to be not all that well done.

 

Canned on 1/29/2020. Poured into a pint glass. It pours a very dark cola color with a huge, long-lasting, luffy, ecru-colored head with pink hues, really unique, and thick, soapy lacing. You could float a bottle cap on the head. The fragrant nose features freshly-brewed coffee, roasted malt, and a faint but discernible smell of blueberry. The taste is also unique with freshly-brewed coffee and blueberry in equal measure. The berry lends a distinct tartness. There are also notes of cocoa. The flavors work well together. The mouth feel is on the thin side with low/moderate carbonation, and the 8.5% ABV is barely noticeable. Overall, Brewberry is a bit unusual but thoroughly enjoyable. It's big enough to pair with a burger or deli sandwich and chips or for casual drinking.