Bringing Sexy Back - Blueberry And Vanilla
Aslin Beer Company

 

 

 

Cloudy dark copper with a massive, vigorously active and uneven head that looks somewhat like blueberry pancake batter--a pinkish tan tinted foamy giant that quickly fizzles out to a bubbly film.

Smell is pretty bright and sharply yeasty, slightly dank and piney, with mango and maple?, lemon, and blueberry syrup that develops more and more as it warms.

Taste is slightly sour, but quenching, with a tangy yeast bite. I get vanilla almost upfront, as opposed to it being absent on the nose. I also taste lemon, mango, faint pungent hops, and light biscuity malt, making this a very soft and tasty brew.

A little thin, but well carbonated, with an exceedingly tingly, slightly frothy feel.

 

 

 

 

At long last, my first sip of aslin. been hearing a lot about them and seem to miss every time something gets opened...until now. has an amber ale look. nose has a fruity berry like pop to it. taste is unique w a great resinous ipa dipped in vanilla and mushed w blueberry. full bodied almost chewy.

8 oz pour at brewery 7/14/16.

L 2f head with good retention, some lacing cap and ring. beer is a deep amber

S blueberry and the tropical notes of mosaic up front. pineapple, mango, some orange. dank piney-ness and vanilla on back end

T more dank and piney up front than expected and lasts throughout. pineapple and orange. blueberry. very light vanilla on back end, softer than their peach one a few weeks back

F medium body, light to medium carb. solid construction and balance. good dankness on tongue and does not dry too quickly

O another solid variant of aslin flagship ipa

The regular BSB is one of my favorite Aslin beers to-date, so I was ultimately a bit let down by this one. It retains a lot of BSB's flavor profile, but the blueberry and vanilla aren't prominent enough to give the beer its own unique character, yet they make enough of an impact to detract from the original. It's essentially a reddish, sweeter BSB. The blueberry flavor came out a bit when it warmed, almost to the detriment of the base beer.

 

 

 

I was expecting a blueberry milkshake similar to the peach & vanilla mind the hop. This was not what I was expecting at all. First, this was red-violet in color. Sort of a magenta/ lavender/ eggplant/ puce. Second, whereas the peach & vanilla mind the hop had rolling waves of bubbling carbonation, this was flat, which may have contributed to the weak nose and lack of a creamy feel.

This was more of just a straight up fruity ipa with blueberry dominating, the vanilla secondary and the flavor of the hops tertiary and too diminished, too much overshadowed but the adjuncts. Probably needs some lactose or something to give it a creamier taste and feel like a milkshake (if that is what they were going for).

No bitterness at all. I shared with friends and the people who hated IPAs loved this, while the hopheads were nonplussed.

 

First things first, this beer looks like shit. I mean, that's a bit harsh but - let's be honest - look isn't very important here. But yeah it looks like shit.

Turbid purple brown with lots of sediment and one of the worst heads I've ever seen on an IPA. No lacing.

Now that that's over I can get to The part of this beer that actually shines. I have a drink at work that's called a "blueberry lemonade" - it's made with lemon juice, macerated blueberries, grand marnier, and orange juice, and it's friggin delicious. This beer smells almost exactly like it. Blueberry, orange liqueur, shortbread.

The taste follows the nose with orange liqueur, blueberry, a little bit of apricot, shortbread, a little bit of chalk in the aftertaste which is my only complaint.

Mouthfeel, though full and smooth, is made slightly rough with the chalky heavy levels of sediment.

It's hard to make a filtered beer that tastes and feels like this (full, smooth, rich and juicy), but the other side of that is that it's hard to take an extremely unfiltered beer like this (low floculating yeast and fruit sediment abound) and make it not come off as a bit chalky and rough.

That being said, this is a perfect IPA for the summer and one worth checking out. These guys are only getting better and better at using adjuncts in their beers - just try any of their low ABV sours and prepare to be impressed - and it seems as though they might be primed and ready to become fruited IPA masters. Mosaic and blueberry? OH YEAH.