Backcountry Blue 8.2
Matanuska Brewing

a double version of their blueberry blonde, ive seen it called double blue also, but the cans say this. a weird beer to imperialize to me, meant for volume drinking, do we need a blueberry blonde this strong? seems like a recipe for disaster for many, and the brilliance is that its not very sweet, so it sneaks up on you. i think the base beer is a little thin, but the alcohol isnt really that exposed, so there are some drinkability wins here, even if it makes this seem a little forced, even a little cheap. i still need to track down the original on one of these trips up there. looks a little like a soda, slightly watered down, pink to purple stained, huge bubbles, could be real fruit but actually the berries are kind of subtle, in some ways mostly fermented out to me, not that this is overly clean, but its not a syrupy candy fruit bomb either, to its credit. no hops to speak of, a relatively neutral ferment, and without alcohol presence even as it warms. there is a definite soda vibe to this, but not in a bad way, and the blueberry seems real enough. i feel like this is just a shell though, maybe lacking a little soul, or like the base beer is inconsequential without the fruit, like it needs something, a champagne yeast referment, a modern dry hopping, some time in a wine barrel, without any of that its almost overly basic for being imperial, and im sure the original is superior for that reason...