Blackberry Tizzy
Tröegs Brewing Company

Slightly less than a fingers worth of audibly fizzy khaki colored froth with a slight purple hue mixed in... Don't blink, it fades away quickly... Color is a slightly translucent murky grape purple... Nose of berries and a slightly acidic sourness... Simple but straightforward and rather inviting... Palate is a bit more complex with the addition of vinegar, vanilla and brown sugar... Some bourbon barrel notes sneak in on the deep finish... Something is a bit astray with the balance on the palate with the vinegar winning the day... Feel is on the lighter side of medium with tons of prickly carbonation... Interesting, but not something I would revisit...

 

 

 

 

Pours a hazy red with a 1/2 inch cream-colored head, which dissipates. Minimal lacing. Suspended particles.

Aroma of sour blackberries, bourbon, oak.

Taste is tart blackberries, citric acid, bourbon, oak. Funky.

Medium bodied, light carbonation. Tart finish with lingering blackberry.

Pretty decent sour.

 

 

 

9/26/20....pours medium dark amber with modest rings of white foam. Very faint fruity smell. Berry forward taste, slight sour. The bourbon and vanillas sneak through. Some woods too. Mellowed with time. Nice.

 

 

 

Bottle:
The beer pours a plum-skin purple with a bit of an auburn backing. The head had a fizzle aspect to it, though it didn't evaporate immediately. However, within about a minute there was only a smattering of small bubbles that couldn't even form a cohesive ring. Not unexpected for a barrel-aged sour, but also not as enticing as a beer that holds some form of carbonation aloft.

The nose has its roots in the berry used in the name with the brown sugar not trying to hide itself. A deeper whiff gives me some of the vanilla and bourbon barrel. Initially, and despite the tart note of the berry leading the way, there was a bit of a slightly musty leathery aspect to the nose, like an old baseball mitt.

A sweet and sour flavor opens the beer, and it seems more driven by the apricot that didn't come out to me so much in the nose. The brown sugar is the source of the sweetness, but it is merely and deftly suppressing the tartness and not trying to take over the beer at all. The tartness provides more feel than the light carbonation, but the latter is noted despite the near still surface of the beer. The blackberry is more evident to me in back, though it is sharing the stage with the apricot. The bourbon barrel really sits in the background and feel I only note the bourbon aspect of it because I am looking for it.

This is a very nice sour with a decent level of tartness that shows the fruits used in its production. It doesn't overwhelm my palate with the sour, and the nuances of the other aspects of the beer are nice, even if they aren't all coming to me distinctly.

 

 

On tap in Baltimore. The board listed it as 7.8%, however, not 10%.

A barrel aged blackberry ale? Sure, whatever. There's no god. Who cares.

The pour is limp like iced tea.

The aroma, however, is quite inviting: chocolate, vanilla, and berries.

The flavor is remarkably understated, with the BA vanilla blunting some of the sharpness of the berries and letting the sweeter nodes shine through. The sip is very smooth up front, moving into a dry middle and a quenchingly sour back end. This reminds me very much of an oud bruin, only with berry sweetness added to the yeasty tartness.

yum! a real cool and creative new one from these guys, all of the sour little cork and cage bottles have been awesome. this is super inventive, sour ale in bourbon barrels with blackberries, apricots, vanilla beans, and brown sugar, way cool! i expected a little more color from it, from the blackberries, but its just moderately pink in the glass. lots of fizzy white head though, and a very interesting nose thats super oak forward, but also obviously extremely sour, maybe over the top acidity, my mouth puckers just from the smell, some of that softened by the raw brown sugar and the vanilla, but those are accents in the aroma at best. the flavor is a great mix of all of these elements, except for maybe the apricots, which are difficult to pick out in here, although i dont miss them at all. the blackberries are jammy and sweet, which is needed against the high bacterial sourness. so sour, like nail polish remover, its harsh. meanwhile the vanilla, bourbon barrels, and brown sugar all combine to give this a cool cocktail character, earthy in a way, woody for sure, maybe better as a strong ale that isnt sour with these flavors, or at least somewhat less acid running through it, but the sweet elements are awesome, and really define this one for in ahead of the fruit. the woodiness is warm, the vanilla is natural, and the overall experience is quite unique. in a world where the sour beer is getting samey when there is fruit in it, i appreciate this one tremendously!