Upland Blackberry
(Previously labeled Blackberry Lambic). Blackberry is fermented by wild yeast and aged in oak casks for nearly a year, which creates a tart, complex beer. We then add whole blackberries, grown in Indiana, giving the beer a sweet, berry aroma that blends nicely with the tang of sour beer. The beer is bottle conditioned, which adds a zesty and refreshing carbonation. Blackberry is the perfect drink to share with friends over a plate of good cheese and fresh fruit.
(Old description) In the spring of 2006, I brewed 300 gallons of top-fermented beer using wild yeast to create a Belgian-style Lambic. We conditioned the beer in oak casks and then initiated a secondary fermentation in the casks using whole fruit from Huber’s Orchard in Starlight, Indiana. You should experience a tart, almost sour taste balanced by the aromatic and richly flavorful addition of whole blackberries - perfect to share with friends, and a platter of good cheese and fresh fruit. - Caleb Staton, Head Brewer
(Old description) In the spring of 2006, I brewed 300 gallons of top-fermented beer using wild yeast to create a Belgian-style Lambic. We conditioned the beer in oak casks and then initiated a secondary fermentation in the casks using whole fruit from Huber’s Orchard in Starlight, Indiana. You should experience a tart, almost sour taste balanced by the aromatic and richly flavorful addition of whole blackberries - perfect to share with friends, and a platter of good cheese and fresh fruit. - Caleb Staton, Head Brewer
3.8
309 reviews
Bloomington, United States
Community reviews
Bottle sampled at a tasting.
No head. loudy re/pink pour. Blackberrys and tart sourness in the aftertaste
Bottle shared. Pours cloudy red purple with no head. Aroma of tart blackberry, light lactic notes and light vinegar. Flavour is moderate to light heavy sour. Light to medium bodied with light carbonation.
Blackberry nose with some white wine flavor so coming through. Taste of sweet n sour blackberries with some nice woodsie backend.
Great blackberries in aroma and taste. Flavor nitrates with tartness then light syrupy blackberries. Great carbonation to bring out all the favors, the cassis blackberries ended so well.
750 ml bottle shared, received via trade, thanks Chad! Cloudy dark pink appearance with light sediment and a white head. The aroma is fruity, funky, sour and acidic with tart berries and a touch of yeast, candy sugar and vanilla. Similar flavor, super sour with a mild sweetness trying to balance it out. Light to medium body with a puckering mouth feel. Dank, refreshing and amazing overall. Love it.
Bottle. Celebrating my first home purchase...welcome to the burbs! Served in a clear plastic cup :). Light berry pink head, light purple hue. Lots of blackberry seed earthy sourness and fruit in the aroma. Quite sour, seedy, acidic berry, juicy puckering note, unripe blackberry, and slight stomach acid. Light body with solid carbonation. Nice.
750ml bottle. Funky tart aroma with some fruit. Mouth puckering tart blackberry flavor. Carbonation is just perfect. Every sip is amazing, this is what fruit lambics should taste like.
Purple pour white head and bubbly lively c02. Fresh fresh blackberry aroma with an undertone of funk. Flavor if real tart lacto along with tart berry notes. Both work well as one.
Bottle at epic share. Small snifter pour was reddish purple with a fuchsia head. Aroma is tar blackberries, some wooded oak, slight acetic acid, and earthiness. The taste is first the bold tart blackberries followed by some wood and acedic acids. Not overly sour but a pucker tartness for sure. Blackberries are rather a dry fruit anyway so the finish is certainly dry and delicious. I’m a sucker for blackberries anyway. Very good.
Cloudy orange-red in colour with an off-white quick to dissipate head, some light lacing. Aroma is tart and sour, blueberries, some green strawberries, fieldberries, light sweetness. Flavour is quite tart, good sourness, highly acidic, lots of berries, quite dry. Sour mouthfeel, medium/light body, moderate carbonation. Finishes very dry, long, acidic.
Refrigerated 75 cl brown bottle bottled on November 20, 2015 corked and capped from shrubber85 poured into a glass. Translucent red with small reddish white head. Aroma is light blackberry, medium body, medium carbonation, and thick small-bubble lacing. Taste is tart, oak, some vinegar, and light blackberry. Good lambic, but I prefer their persimmon.
Bottled 5/15/14 from trade. Pours beautiful deep reddish purple with a pink fizzy head in my Cantillon glass. Awesome aroma of big lush blackberry, lots of vinegar and funk, oak, sour. Flavor is big fruity blackberries, sharp sourness, some vinegar notes, oak, dry but not super dry, definite jamminess here. Light to medium bodied, spritzy carbonation, juicy berries yet dry finish. Whoah. This is really excellent. Have heard it is overly sour but I’m not getting that at all. This is just right and on par with some of the best sours I’ve had, including fruited Cantillon.
Bottle during upland share. Ruby pour with white head. Super tart berry aromas. Light black berry tart fruit and sour flavors.
Bottle - Tart funk and berry. Cloudy reddish purple with no head. Tart berry, light ketchup and a well balanced tartness. Nice and bright, easy drinking. Well done.
Pours a blue-purple with minimal head. Tart sour aroma with cheese and malt vinegar notes. Sour candy, blackberries, and tart fruit flavors. I didn’t really pick up the blackberries until the beer warmed up. Once it warmed the blackberries really came through. Moderate carbonation. Medium body with a tart finish. Very good sour.
11/VII/14 - 75cl bottle @ Eerste "Er Klopt Iemand Op De Deur" Samson & Gert Bierproeving (aka Epic Beer Tasting III) - BB: n/a, bottled: 8/VII/13 (2014-793) Thanks to 77ships for sharing the bottle!
Cloudy reddish to amber beer, small light pink head, little stable, non adhesive. Aroma: yuck, sweaty stink feet, cheesy, bit fruity, lemony, pretty offensive. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: pretty sour, earthy, tobacco, citric acidity, very puckering sourness, bit musty, cork, dusty. Aftertaste: very sour, lemony, cork, bit dusty, bit fruity. Taste is luckily better than the smell, but man, this is once more a US sour that I absolutely do not dig at all...
Bottle; Pour is murky amber / purple with a fine bubbled white head here - it vanishes very quickly. A little disappointing. The nose is blackberry jam, tart lemon zest moving to light grass - there’s light acetic, moving to that mild funky note I’ve come to expect. The flavor profile is initial sweet tart here - it’s bittering, blackberry jam, lemon citrus, light acetic - It’s a somewhat subdued upland lambic, in comparison to some that I’ve already had
At Justin’s house warming party. Pours almond rose florescent with no head. Aroma is fantastic, full cherry Rasperry blackberry sourness. Taste is medium to heavy acidity, blackberries, musky tart, a little one-noted. I like it.
Sample @ RBWG Grand Tasting. Deep blood red color with a small head. Nice and jammy, fresh blackberry and some stawberry smoothie. Lightly tart balsamic. The taste is a bit more abrupt, acetic. Light salted driftwood. Fruit skin. Citrus. Medium body, active carbonation.
Finally trying upland. Totally worth the wait too. Tons of tart blackberries. So good. Hope to try more.
750 ml bottle. Pours a beautiful purple with a thin pink head that fades, leaving no lacing. Aroma is blackberries upfront with muted funk complexity. Flavor is mildly tart blackberries, amazing. Overall mild, with more tartness than sweet. Delicious. Notes from 1/23/10 (Geist Dark Lord Tasting).
Bottle @ ’Er Klopt Iemand Op De Deur" Samson & Gert Bierproeving I. Thanks 77ships! Brown purple colour, some white foam. Complex fruity aroma with green apples, blueberries and vinegar. Very acidic with light sweet notes. Very good, but a little bit unbalanced.
Bottle at first "Er klopt iemand op de deur" tasting aka EBT3. Thx to everyone for sharing today’s beers!
APPEARANCE: clouded red beer, small unstable reddish head.
NOSE: sour, wood, fruity, blackberries.
TASTE: somewhat lactic, blackberries, wood, very sour, fruit clearly noticeable!
750 ml. bottle sampled @ "Er Klopt Iemand Op De Deur" Samson & Gert Bierproeving I. Obtained in an IP trade with AdamJackson. Spare white bubbles head, hazy, lightly cloudy body, red, light purple. Barnyard, light lacto nose, some faint lambiek-resemblace, brett, oak, barnyard, horseblanket. Wine, barrel, barnyard, funk, funk leading into very sharp lacto & lemon acidic sour explosion with blueberry explosion finish. Harsh acidity but quite lovely, somewhat different from you average USA sour. Light body, lively carbonation.
Bottle: Thanks, Ed. Opaque, fuchsia color with a lavender head, very unique looking. Aroma of blackberry (duh) with notable sour lacto, hay, & a bit of lemon flesh. I’m detecting mild acidity but no vinegar. Smells nice. Lots of sour berry in the taste... Yes, quite sour but still not as sour as I was expecting based on other reviews. Blackberry & black cherry with a mild perfume tone mixed in there. A little bit of potpourri-like spice, too, almost like the faint cinnamon notes you can sometimes find in cherry beers (even though this is blackberry). Some slightly musty hay with a little wood towards the finish, though this one is mainly fruit forward. Again, sour, but not exceedingly so. A tiny bit of berry sweetness to round out the finish. More of a "wild ale" than a "lambic", but either way, this was quite good.
Bottle thanks to Phil. Pours a clear purple with small pinkish head that diminishes to nothing. The aroma is strong tart blackberry, funk, oak. Thin mouthfeel with strong acid and sour blackberry, sour as hell, very good.
750ml bottle shared thanks to Lukaduke! Pours cloudy violet-red with a medium head. Nose is acidic sour berry and musty tart funk. Taste is sharp acidic blackberry, fruity funk, some dusty oak. Finish is sour acidic berries, fruit, grape, woody funk.
Pours a rich purple color with a finger of pinkish grey foam. Lots of sour berry, cider vinegar, wet wood and nice balance between earthy stems and ripe blackberry fruit. Acidity level is high but still approachable. Glad i drank this on the fresher side as I feel the blackberry flavor really helps round out the acidic base nicely!
750ml bottle pours a purple reddish with a thin head vinegar slight berry and oak taste
Poured a light cloudy reddish purple color with aromas of funk, vinegar, some blackberries, musk and wet wood. Flavors matched the aromas that were quite present when mixed together.