Ok, so I haven't tried every blueberry-flavored beer in the world (though trust me, that is my goal). That said, I can tell you what my favorite of the ones I have tried is: Bar Harbor Blueberry Ale.Last week you may remember I gave a few deductions (too much Olympics!) to Blue Point Brewing Company's Blueberry Ale for balance -- pointing out that many times it can be hard to organically match malt and hops to fresh fruit flavoring, especially with extremely light ales. In my opinion, the best fruit beers tend to be unfiltered wheat beers.
Enter Bar Harbor Blueberry Ale. Right out the bottle, the nose is of fresh (wild Maine, they say) blueberries, but the brewers at Atlantic Brewing Company (makers of Bar Harbor) aren't afraid to let the beer itself do some of the talking. The nose is full of malts with a touch of hoppy spice. Hold your glass up to the light though for this ale to reveal its true secret: It's got the color of a darker beer but as the official press states it's "combined with wheat to give this ale its lighter body." Basically, you can tell you're in for a mouthful.
What you end up with: A perfect playground for the blueberry essence. The wheat is like the grasslands for the flavor to frolic upon while the touch of spicy hops are trees for excessive blueberry flavor to duck behind. And as it slips down your throat, sweet malts combines with tart blueberry for a perfectly balanced finished. Delightfully, much of the flavor is left up to whatever the drinker wants to find: If you want a lot of berry, it's waiting there for you, but I could also see someone slugging one of these down never knowing it was a "fruit beer".
THE FINAL SIP: Some debate has been raging over whether fruit is a welcome addition for beer purists. For those who lean towards "no", I'd say hopefully you are in one of the almost 20 states that currently carries Bar Harbor Blueberry Ale. (If not, don't worry: Bar Harbor, Maine is really far up there. They'll get to you eventually!) This beer is a great example of an ale that fully integrates its fruit flavor without compromising any of its craft-brewed integrity -- a truly inspired product. It might just inspire you to change your opinion of what a "fruit beer" can taste like.
[Photo Credit: atlanticbrewing.com]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-13-2008 @ 12:21PM
JMForester said...
It's nice to see a good review of our local brewery, Atlantic. I'm friends with the owner and will pass this along to him.
I have to disagree about fruit being a debate for purists. While it may not have been allowed by the German brewing regulations, the Reinheitsgebot, which was enacted in 1516 and then repealed in 1987, there were fruit beers and ones with other adjuncts since way before then. And of course those laws were just for Germany (Which wasn't really Germany back then, but a collection of various states and towns) and not other countries.
Fruit has been used for centuries in beer. Belgian lambic ales made with cherries or raspberries have been around for a very long time.
As a brewer (I like saying that ever since we got our brewery permits last month)I feel fruit is perfectly fine in a well crafted beer. Of course I find fault with many fruit brews where the balance you so well describe is off. Then they can be a sickly, horrible mess. Not the well crafted beer like Atlantic Brewing's Bar Harbor Blueberry Ale.
-JMF-
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8-13-2008 @ 8:28PM
App said...
I have had the pleasure of enjoying Bar Harbor's Blueberry Ale at my local. It is easily one of the few fruit inspired craft beers that I enjoy. Often times I find the fruit too overpowering, or worse yet, a fruit I simply don't like.
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