There is no such thing as a bumbleberry, but I do remember a girl in high-school nicknamed “bumble buns” which of course represents a different food group. That didn’t sound right, did it? Anyway, there is such a thing as bumbleberry pie which is a unique Canadian concoction originating from the Maritimes. It is a mix of three or four berries and rhubarb usually, for a tart sweet pastry. Basically, any berry you can find in the back yard just toss it in there with a couple stalks of rhubarb growing under the deck, plus a pound of sugar, chuck it in the oven, and 20 minutes later Bob’s your uncle and voila, bumbleberry pie. I love me a peach pie and cherry pie is to live for. Bumbleberry, not so much. But it does seem a fitting name for a mixed berry sour.
This berry of the month club selection from Longslice pours bright dark reddish with a full meringue frosting on top. A Hawaiian Fruit punch aroma, no tang or sour in the nose. First swig, pucker up, sucker punch sour! Tang and fizz forward, with berries playing backup. Now it seems the fizz has frightened the fruit away, and the tang hangs but just. Too fizzy, it feels like it has unrealized potential. Now the fizz is flattening and the berries are starting to make an appearance, shining through the fizz with a mild slightly tangy tart torte. Maybe it just had to breathe a bit (like we all do)?
It’s fruit punch now, berry not beery, but not trying to be. I would guess it’s just like a spiked punch at a high school prom in the movies. I say in the movies because back in the day we were all of age at our prom, cash bar, no tabs, but no spiked punch required. This sour morphed from sour to tart to a nice berry fruit punch with a touch of tang. For those of you with a sour tooth this may be worth a quaff.
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