Boulder Kinda Blue

My buds at ABBEY decided to take the Blueberry concept to a new level.  Where the defacto idea that many bars rely on is to throw some blueberries into the bottom of a glass filled with a blueberry beer to add a flair to the fruity brew.  Throwing blueberries into a Randall and infusing the beer with fresh blueberries is new to me and I was excited to try it.

http://www.boulderbeer.com/

Now, where this idea really benefits is that Boulder Brewing's offering is much lighter and drier than most blueberry beers and adding fresh, natural flavors really make more sense in this type of beer than in the heavier Kool Aid versions.  

If you are not already familiar with the label, the Boulder Brewing Kinda Blue is a recently-released product, premiering just last year.  This is the 10th beer in the brewery's Looking Glass Series, which represent slightly "larger" beers than their traditional core line that the brewery began with.  

On the Randall, the flavor of blueberry intensifies in much the same way as the addition of hops adds to a beer infused the same way.  It gives it a freshness that is simply impossible to gain straight out of the keg.  In much the same way that you could ask "why not just have a hoppier beer" the question is answered in much the same way.  The additional berry flavor is certainly a welcome addition, but to simply add more blueberry to the beer at the brewery would not have the same effect.  As a blueberry beer, I dig it.  As a Randalled blueberry beer, I really dig it!