Old Yale Brewing has collaborated with the Bloom Tulip Festival of Abbotsford to make this fantastic springtime beer. B.C. Beer Reviews took a stroll through the tulips, taking in all the scents. This is what you should expect from the Bloom Tulip Ale.

B.C. Beer Reviews: Old Yale Brewing – Bloom Tulip Ale

The thought of using 2,000 tulips in a beer is a weird one. You would not think that tulips and beer would mix well, but you would be false in making that assumption.

Let’s crack this flower beer open and see what it has to offer.

Colour

This beer has a fantastic deep purple colour you would expect from a Tulip. It is a fairly deep purple colour from the can and in the glass. Despite being a deep purple colour this beer has a very nice level of clarity to it.

The colour could be best described as the deep purple of grape soda. The clarity being as fantastic as it comes as a bit of a surprise.

Overall, hits the mark with the colour and the name matching up. Very nice colour, and one you certainly would not expect from your typical ale.

Nose/Aroma

It is quite noticeable that this beer has a distinct floral aroma to it. It is very light and very pleasant aroma that is perfect for spring. The tulips come through nicely in the nose/aroma of this beer.

Aside from the floral aroma, there is a light hop presence in this brew. It uses two hops, Yellow Sub and Azacca. Yellow Sub is purported to impart aromas of apricot, orange and a hint of blackberry. There is almost not apricot aroma, but there are light notes of both orange and blackberry in this brew.

As for the Azacca hops, they are supposed to impart notes of tropical fruit notes. You could argue that there are tropical citrus fruit notes, but it still comes off more as orange than anything else specifically.

Overall, this beer has an extremely pleasant aroma between the floral notes, the orange and the hint of blackberry in the background.

Tasting Notes

This beer is a very light bodied and smooth drinking ale. The first note you get from it comes from the Yellow Sub hops, and that is the blackberry. It is a very subtle and smooth note to this beer.

Behind the typical notes of an ale and the blackberry, there is a slightly bitter floral note to this beer. Both of the hops and the tulips used in this beer could impart bitterness, but this comes off as a lightly vegetal and floral bitter note. It is much more subtle than what you would expect from a typical hop bitterness. Very clean and approachable level of bitterness.

Other than those notes, there is not much else of note here. There is a very light taste of citrus fruit. It is hard to distinguish between tropical citrus fruits and orange. Either way, this is a very tasty brew.

Other Notes

This beer has a very nice sky blue label on it. The name of the beer and Old Yale Brewing is in bold white lettering. Aside from that, there is the Bloom Tulip Festival logo and the picture of a few deep purple tulips on the bottom half of the label.

The carbonation level is very noticeable in this beer. It is not biting at all but adds a very nice crispness to the finish of the beer that is perfectly okay with the style.

There is very little to no lacing on the glass from this beer. It leaves behind a few small spots of lacing here and there, but it is not anything to write home about.

The mouthfeel of this beer is very light and smooth overall. It has the typical light and crisp body of an ale with a smooth finish of a light sweetness. Very nice in this respect.

Final Grade

The tulips are very noticeable throughout, especially in the colour of this beer. The nose/aroma presents you with orange, a hint of blackberry and a light floral aroma. There is a bitter note to this beer, but it is very light and approachable. Overall, this is a very nice beer.

Grade: 8.4/10

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Main photo by Nic Hendrickson, Lastword Inc., all rights reserved