“Few things are more synonymous with Maine than blueberries. After years of making wild beers without ever using Maine’s state fruit, a tiny farm in Windham, Maine, asked us to try a beer with their blueberries. The beer tasted so good that we asked to use their entire crop.To make Little Sal, we add wild lowbush blueberries to a barrel-aged sour red ale. The resulting beer is dark violet in color, with earthy aromas of blueberry and oak. Its flavor is juicy, tart, and unmistakably blueberry: a true taste of Maine.”

Glassware: Teku.

Appearance: Uncaged, uncorked and presenting a light redish-brown with a finger of fizzy head over the top. Rapid reduction, settling to a collar with minimal lace work on the glass.

Aroma: We were lucky enough to bag one of these as Carwyn Cellars have fortuitously connected with a US distributor who’s massively overstocked on a bunch of rare barrel aged American beauties. For this expression the blueberries are the main event. Offering their tart and juicy sweetness to a lacto-heavy sour red ale. Gorgeous layers of oak, barnyard funk, tannic red berries, red wine vinegar, sour grapes and sour cherry.

Flavour: This is a 2019 vintage so the 7 years it’s had laying down has had a significant effect on mellowing out the sharp lacto sourness that it would’ve once had. There is a short cameo of funk and sourness upfront but it tapers off into rich oak and juicy blueberry notes, subtle wine tannin, earthy farmyard, hay/wheat and sour red grape juice to finish. Nicely drawn out on the back palate too.

Mouthfeel: Light on, not overly sharp or astringent as these types of sours can be. Light-moderate body, the Co2 has dropped out a bit from age and the 6% ABV is neatly tucked away.

Overall: Well, it’s not every day that we get to sink a 7yo sour by Allagash. Kudos Carwyn cellars! We soaked up every sip of this complex and delicious little number. Impressive stuff.