Ithaca LeBleu

A very generous trader threw this in as an extra a few months back, so I was lucky enough to try this fairly hard to get beer (150 cases produced). When it came out ISOs and FTs flooded BA for a few days.

LeBleu, a sour blueberry ale, is part of Ithaca Beer Co.'s Excelsior! series. It's "brewed with New York Blueberries and Brettanomyes" and is a blend from 2007, 2008, and 2009 barrels. Apparently this was fermented with brett and wine yeast.

I was pretty excited to try this since my experience with sours has been fairly limited and I hadn't had any of the Excelsior! series previously. The bottle comes capped and corked with a synthetic cork. I had a fair amount of trouble getting the cork out. I was extra careful since I've read that LeBleu is highly carbonated.

My first impressions was that LeBleu is highly carbonated. Lots of head from a gentle pour that you can see in the photo. The head was a fluffy white and receded quickly. LeBleu was a medium brown with a very strong rose tint that the photo doesn't do justice. The smell was blueberry, citrusy, and tart with brett funk. The funk smell was pretty tame. The flavor is mouth-puckering sour with subtle blueberry, oak, vinous, and tart flavors. I found the flavor very pleasant, but it was a good thing I had someone to split the bottle with, since the flavors are strong and would have probably became too much. The reports of this beer being very carbonated were right on. For this style of beer I find it very appropriate. The pleasant spritz is very nice. Too bad this beer is hard to get a hold of, I would love to get my hands on more and let it age for a year or two. Overall this was a very enjoyable sour.

A comment from my girlfriend who hadn't had a sour before said it was, "like a saison." While very distinct this was a pretty good approximation and I was impressed. She didn't care for LeBleu as much as I did (I think she was expecting it to have a more overwhelming blueberry flavor), but drank a glass of it.