Slushy XL - Double Blackberry
450 North Brewing Company

The beer pours out the color of the label, deep deep blackberry jam. Very nice color and it forms a thin, sea foam purple/pink crown. Very thick looking with a lot of fruit sediment. Spotty lacing and thick sediment left throughout.

The nose brings blackberry tartness. Like a sour homemade blackberry jam. Kind of has a welchers juice vibe to it.

The taste brings in a lot of that welchers juiciness before drying out and turning into a biscuit smothered in jam.

I would expect this to be a lot thicker for what it looks like, and I guess it would be considered thick for a Berliner. ABV would never be guessed at 8%, lightly tart & balanced.

Overall, this isn’t as in your face as I would’ve inspected. It is really kept pretty well balanced and still refreshing. I like it.

 

 

The king of slushy beer, 450 North, may have pushed its slushy limits a little too far. Working extra hard to bring a fruit filled sour beer to the palate, this time on the backs of blackberries, this extra big, extra juicy, extra fruity ale drinks more like a meal.

Double Blackberry Jam Smoothie XL pours with a recklessly silted, turbid purple maroon hue and cast in a matte finish. As a creamy grayish, lavender stained head builds, its tangy and succulent berry scent is as vivid as any berry filled punch imaginable. Tangy with fruit tartness and creamy with vanilla and cream, its scent quickly rolls into an jammy, blackberry, cobbler puree with a deeply embedded cereal quality on the initial palate.

But the middle palate is where the fruit flavors explode. The blackberry flavors tease the tastebuds with a juicy vine ripe dark berry saturation while the cereal adds a general fruity sweetness. Vanilla and cream add a smoothie type of balance while the ale trends tart, succinct and robustly fruited on the late palate.

Fruit juices continue to flood the finish while its tartness plays a bigger role. Medium bodied but seeming fuller because of the pulp of fruit, the beer is an antioxidant, fully recommended daily serving of fruit in a can; trailing into a medium length aftertaste of blackberry puree, citrus, wine and cider undertones.