Four Winds – Blackberry Jam IPA
ABV: 6.5% IBU: 45
I picked up a 4-pack of this remarkable IPA from my local beer and wine store. Just the name of the brew reminded me of my childhood picking Himalayan blackberries with my family in Delta, where Four Winds Brewing hails from. We would wander into the bramble towards the end of the summer and brave the prickly vines to relieve the plump juicy berries from their droopy, thorny perch. Our hands would take on the dark stain of the juice of the berries as they thumped into 4 litre ice cream pails that we had emptied quickly of their original contents long before. Then we’d take them home, if they didn’t get plucked for their sweetness and mouthed by our desirous beaks, and we would give them to our mother who turned those berries into jam, compote, or froze them. Mixed into a pan, sugar added and heat applied, then mixed with a little ice cream, they made a delicious dessert. We thought of these berries until Spring, and they interspersed themselves into our mother’s desserts until they came around again.
This beer reminds me of that.
Appearance: light pink-purplish head, reducing to clinging at the edges to form a light afterwards.
Taste: The lactose sugar in this complex beer gives a creamy, sweet and smooth flavour, as well as the secondary maltiness and bitterness of hops at the back of the mouth. Of course the flavour of blackberry shines through all aspects of this beer. A very light sourness also came through from the addition of the fruit. I found that the vanilla added gave the impression of blackberries on vanilla ice cream. A very thoughtful addition! Mosaic hops and lupulin powder offer this IPA very good, and not overly bitter flavours for a relatively high IBU IPA.
A little taste of Ladner in a can.
