Cigar City Brewing Lactobacillus Blackberry Grove

Cigar City Brewing Lactobacillus Blackberry Grove is an American Wild Ale, no ABV or package date is listed on the bottle. This beer goes threw three fermentations; first in the primary with the Lactobacillus, the second occurs later when a saison yeast is added, and finally a tertiary fermentation is spurred by the addition of the fruit.

The beer pours fairly clear with the purple/red color of cranberry juice, and has a pretty nice light pink head for several minutes. A good bit of the blackberries and some funky wine like notes make up the majority of the aroma. The taste is certainly tart and fruit forward. Blackberry/cranberry juice laced with some serious lacto tartness dominates the taste. The saison yeast seems to be adding some complimentary funkiness. A touch of vinegar comes in right at the finish. The mouth-feel has a wine like dryness but also has a nice bit of prickly carbonation.

A quality beer that certainly places a toe or two just over the “is it beer?” line. Not something I would want to drink all the time, but this was a fun pick up.