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Black & Blue
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
- From:
- Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
- Delaware, United States
- Style:
- Fruit and Field Beer
Ranked #135 - ABV:
- 10%
- Score:
- 83
Ranked #23,791 - Avg:
- 3.68 | pDev: 15.49%
- Reviews:
- 532
- Ratings:
- Status:
- Active
- Rated:
- Mar 23, 2023
- Added:
- Aug 23, 2006
- Wants:
- 132
- Gots:
- 297
Black & Blue is a Belgian-style golden ale fermented with blackberries and blueberries. Because we dose Black & Blue with real berries -- rather than artificial flavoring -- the fruit comes through in the flavor, not just the aroma.
The pureed berries are added as the beer leaves the brewhouse. In fermentation, the yeast -- the same one we use in Red & White and Pangaea -- feeds on sugars from the barley and the berries, giving Black & Blue a unique complexity and a high ABV.
25 IBU
The pureed berries are added as the beer leaves the brewhouse. In fermentation, the yeast -- the same one we use in Red & White and Pangaea -- feeds on sugars from the barley and the berries, giving Black & Blue a unique complexity and a high ABV.
25 IBU
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by digr:
Reviewed by digr from Massachusetts
3.68/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
3.68/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
A - Pours a "grapey" red hue with a 1.5 cm foam head (slight pinnk color to the foam).
S - Mild Belgian style yeast smell (fruity + esters) and berry smell. Small amount of hop aroma.
T - Front taste of fruit and berries mixed with the golden Belgian style of the beer. Finishes with a dry feeling and mild hop overtones.
M - decent mouthfeel from the Belgian style. Finishes Dry. Some acidity from the fruit.
D - Fairly easy to drink. The bottle says 10% ABV. however this is hid real well as there is zero hint of alcohol hotness. The Fruit effect will determine drinkability based on personal preferences.
Overall - a decent brew if you like fruit beers. I personally prefer my fruit beers to be sours. For me there may be a bit too much hops compared to the fruit flavors. There seems to be an imbalance in the overall beer. But if you like fruit beers that are subtle and not too sweet, then you may really like this one.
Oct 18, 2009S - Mild Belgian style yeast smell (fruity + esters) and berry smell. Small amount of hop aroma.
T - Front taste of fruit and berries mixed with the golden Belgian style of the beer. Finishes with a dry feeling and mild hop overtones.
M - decent mouthfeel from the Belgian style. Finishes Dry. Some acidity from the fruit.
D - Fairly easy to drink. The bottle says 10% ABV. however this is hid real well as there is zero hint of alcohol hotness. The Fruit effect will determine drinkability based on personal preferences.
Overall - a decent brew if you like fruit beers. I personally prefer my fruit beers to be sours. For me there may be a bit too much hops compared to the fruit flavors. There seems to be an imbalance in the overall beer. But if you like fruit beers that are subtle and not too sweet, then you may really like this one.
More User Ratings:
Reviewed by mothman from Minnesota
3.5/5 rDev -4.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
3.5/5 rDev -4.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
2013 on tap.
White head. Golden copper color.
Berries and a bourbon like flavor. Very muted flavor in general for the abv. Not tart, not very sweet. Kind of bland/muted.
Jan 17, 2021White head. Golden copper color.
Berries and a bourbon like flavor. Very muted flavor in general for the abv. Not tart, not very sweet. Kind of bland/muted.
Reviewed by woodychandler from Pennsylvania
4.06/5 rDev +10.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
4.06/5 rDev +10.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
Transcribed from notes:
I am continuing with my bottle purge and when a friend said that he wanted to come over and say goodbye before heading off to graduate school at U of FL, I decided to break out something that had recently surfaced from the depths of my cellar.
Once the cap had been Pop!ped, I employed a gentle pour so as not to disturb any potential lees. Color was a pinkish-amber with a good bit of floaties in evidence. Nose had a great preserve-like fruitiness. I would have guessed blueberry, but black or red raspberry? I cannot say for sure. My late-paternal grandmother grew red raspberries in her garden, hence my allusion to preserves. I got a skim of pinkish wisps for head. Mouthfeel was medium. Taste was of mixed berries, very fruity, but hard to discern which ones were involved in the production of this beer. Label read 10% ABV, but it was as mellow as all get-out! I recently drank some aged Fort, and despite its age, it was still rather hot. This was very pleasant by comparison. Finish was semi-dry and actually more vinous that beer-like. Wild!
Jul 21, 2017I am continuing with my bottle purge and when a friend said that he wanted to come over and say goodbye before heading off to graduate school at U of FL, I decided to break out something that had recently surfaced from the depths of my cellar.
Once the cap had been Pop!ped, I employed a gentle pour so as not to disturb any potential lees. Color was a pinkish-amber with a good bit of floaties in evidence. Nose had a great preserve-like fruitiness. I would have guessed blueberry, but black or red raspberry? I cannot say for sure. My late-paternal grandmother grew red raspberries in her garden, hence my allusion to preserves. I got a skim of pinkish wisps for head. Mouthfeel was medium. Taste was of mixed berries, very fruity, but hard to discern which ones were involved in the production of this beer. Label read 10% ABV, but it was as mellow as all get-out! I recently drank some aged Fort, and despite its age, it was still rather hot. This was very pleasant by comparison. Finish was semi-dry and actually more vinous that beer-like. Wild!
Reviewed by Lone_Freighter from Vermont
3.99/5 rDev +8.4%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
3.99/5 rDev +8.4%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Treated as a straight up fruit beer, this was poured into a pint glass. The appearance was a glossy purple to brown color with a slight transparency about it. Floaties bounce off of carbonation rising to fill a one finger white to off white foamy head. It dissipates at a nice pace and leaves a small fairly thick ring of foamy lacing around the glass. The smell starts off with a some blackberries and blueberries (obviously, right!) and blends into a light caramel to biscuity maltiness. The taste was a nice mix between the blackberries and blueberries to a little bit of spiciness from the Belgian yeast. Yields more to the biscuity side than the caramel side in the taste. Its somewhat fruity in the aftertaste yet allows the spice to hit in the finish nicely. On the palate, this one sat about a light to medium in body with a decent sessionability about it. Carbonation feels good as it is and falls in and around my tongue appropriately. Overall, as a fruit beer, it works, with the Belgian spices snapping in and around my tongue, it wants to let you know, "hey, I’m not just any old fruit beer." I’d have this again, nice beer.
Jun 06, 2017Reviewed by drdiesel9483 from Ohio
3.77/5 rDev +2.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
3.77/5 rDev +2.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Got this in a flight of 4 aged beers at dogfish head
2009 bottled, drinking 2017
Look - copper and thin
Smell - sour and tart funkiness
Taste - definitely taste the blue and blackberries, pretty funky
Feel - thin syrup almost no carbonation
Overall - interesting. It'll be cool to re check this out at home and see what I say different
May 04, 20172009 bottled, drinking 2017
Look - copper and thin
Smell - sour and tart funkiness
Taste - definitely taste the blue and blackberries, pretty funky
Feel - thin syrup almost no carbonation
Overall - interesting. It'll be cool to re check this out at home and see what I say different
Black & Blue from Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
Beer rating:
83 out of
100 with
1634 ratings
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