Blackberry Crumble
Mast Landing Brewing Company
- From:
- Mast Landing Brewing Company
- Maine, United States
- Style:
- Fruited Sour Ale
- ABV:
- 6%
- Score:
- +9 ratings needed
- Avg:
- 4.03 | pDev: 0%
- Ratings:
- | reviews: 1
- Status:
- Retired
- Rated:
- Nov 06, 2020
- Added:
- Oct 29, 2020
- Wants:
- 0
- Gots:
- 0
NO SCORE
-
-
Blackberry Crumble is another collab, this time with the folks from Barreled Souls. This audacious and delicious Sour balances dessert-like sweetness with fruity tartness and reinvents the experience of berry crumble using blackberries and vanilla beans.
Recent ratings and reviews.
Reviewed by ichorNet from Massachusetts
4.03/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
4.03/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
I recently enjoyed an entire four-pack of Mast Landing's berry-driven 1820 sour ale in one night, so I can assure you that these guys know their way around a fruited sour or two. I've actually had a couple pretty good fruited sour beers from Barreled Souls as well, so this seems like it comes from an established pedigree of brewers who are usually good at stuff like this. In addition, ML's All The Way Up series always uses interesting fruit combinations alongside lactose for creaminess, so I'm not overly worried about the unbalancing that lactose can sometimes do in the case of this beer. I'm ready to be impressed!
The appearance is a creamy pale-ish purple/maroon color with a surprisingly nice, dense head of off-pink/beige-like foam that lasts much longer than the caps of some other fruited quick sour beers. Perhaps the vanilla inclusion influenced that? It's not eternal, of course, but it doesn't just bubble away to nothingness immediately. Anyway, I like the overall look, but the color isn't as saturated or deep as I'd hoped for, and it kinda just makes the whole thing feel less impactful. Maybe that's just me, though.
I immediately smell blackberries, blackcurrants, raspberry, and a bit of jammy strawberry as well. A bit of the vanilla does come out here and there, as well, but this definitely seems like it'll be more of a "dessert-inspired sour beer" rather than an attempt to actually make a liquefied dessert, if you know what I mean. As it warms, it becomes more balanced and does feel a bit more like the additional ingredients meet in the middle, so perhaps I'll end up being wrong.
Nah, not really. Still jammy, tart, fresh, and fruity for the most part on the palate. Not as much malt or creaminess as I'd want (maybe they should have added a bit more vanilla or used/added more oats to try to get that texture/flavor that a crumble has?), but it's still fun and enjoyable for sure. One thing I really like is that the generic "lemony" tartness a lot of quick sours have just by default due to lacto is really reined in here and the pure expression of blackberries feels more appropriately established overall.
Feel is a bit lighter than you'd think for a 6% fruit sour w/ vanilla, and carbonation is a quick and intense affair as well, meaning this is effervescent and tight for the most part compared to my expectations. I'm not sure I'd really grab it again, as it's not complex or easy-drinking enough to be a four-pack slammer, but I don't think that's how it was built or brewed to be experienced anyway.
Nov 06, 2020The appearance is a creamy pale-ish purple/maroon color with a surprisingly nice, dense head of off-pink/beige-like foam that lasts much longer than the caps of some other fruited quick sour beers. Perhaps the vanilla inclusion influenced that? It's not eternal, of course, but it doesn't just bubble away to nothingness immediately. Anyway, I like the overall look, but the color isn't as saturated or deep as I'd hoped for, and it kinda just makes the whole thing feel less impactful. Maybe that's just me, though.
I immediately smell blackberries, blackcurrants, raspberry, and a bit of jammy strawberry as well. A bit of the vanilla does come out here and there, as well, but this definitely seems like it'll be more of a "dessert-inspired sour beer" rather than an attempt to actually make a liquefied dessert, if you know what I mean. As it warms, it becomes more balanced and does feel a bit more like the additional ingredients meet in the middle, so perhaps I'll end up being wrong.
Nah, not really. Still jammy, tart, fresh, and fruity for the most part on the palate. Not as much malt or creaminess as I'd want (maybe they should have added a bit more vanilla or used/added more oats to try to get that texture/flavor that a crumble has?), but it's still fun and enjoyable for sure. One thing I really like is that the generic "lemony" tartness a lot of quick sours have just by default due to lacto is really reined in here and the pure expression of blackberries feels more appropriately established overall.
Feel is a bit lighter than you'd think for a 6% fruit sour w/ vanilla, and carbonation is a quick and intense affair as well, meaning this is effervescent and tight for the most part compared to my expectations. I'm not sure I'd really grab it again, as it's not complex or easy-drinking enough to be a four-pack slammer, but I don't think that's how it was built or brewed to be experienced anyway.
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