Blackberry Scottish & Gold Ales
O'Fallon Brewery Produces Two Very Different Beers
The O’Fallon Brewery is located in St. Charles county, near St. Louis, Missouri. A small regional brewery, they led off with their flagship O’Fallon Gold in the spring of 2000, and they currently offer three beers year-round.
Blackberry Scottish Style is a seasonal beer, available beginning February 1st, and is available until the batch runs out. According to the brewery, it’s a Scottish-style ale brewed with six different types of barley.
The beer pours a slightly hazy brown, with a fairly small head that dissipates rapidly. It’s not terribly carbonated, and once the head disappears, there’s just a very slight tracing of bubbles left skimming the top. It almost looks more like strong tea than beer.
The aroma was not as malty as expected from the brewer’s description, and there was almost no hint of the blackberry, either. There was definitely a sweetness to the aroma, but it’s hard to put a finger on it to identify the smell further.
The flavor is definitely malty, which you’d expect from a Scottish style ale, and the hops are almost non-existent. What’s also almost non-existent is any blackberry flavor, although there’s just a hint of a fake-berry flavor in the finish. If you’re looking for a strong fruit flavor, you’ll be disappointed with this one. All in all, it’s not a bad beer but it’s an unusual one – you’ll either really like it, or hate it.
O’Fallon’s flagship Gold is very different. Gold is an American pale ale and is brewed year round. According to the brewery, it’s produced with three types of barley and two types of hops, and Kolsch yeast. It’s cold conditioned and filtered.
The beer pours an orangey-amber with a small off-white head. There’s almost no retention to the head, and there’s only the tiniest bit of lacing left behind. The aroma is pleasantly grainy, sweet and just a little grassy.
When first opened, Gold seemed very carbonated, but the fizz runs out quickly. The flavor is very crisp and clean, and is very reminiscent of a lager. There’s a bit of a sourness to the flavor that’s slightly unusual but certainly not unpleasant, and the hops are fruity with a very soft bite. There’s a definitely a flavor of sweet honey and yeast as well.
Gold is light bodied and very drinkable, and maybe it shows its Missouri roots – it’s a good choice for a hot humid Midwestern summer day. Pair it with bar-b-que or with spicy bar food; Gold has enough flavor to avoid being overwhelmed.
