Try?
Do you have the Wandering Blues? Do you stumble aimlessly from beer to beer, trying to find the one that will quench your never-ending thirst for something new and exciting? If so, I won’t say that Orpheus Wandering Blues will end your noble quest for all time; beer lovers are far too fickle for that. It will, though, quench and refresh you from the summer heat with a dry sourness and notes of fresh blueberry fruit.
Orpheus releases Wandering Blues from July to September as a summer beer, both in bottles and on draft. For 2016, it appears to be draft only as Total Wine has no listing for the bottled stuff. If it’s out there, it’s hard to find. I got a glass at my local Taco Mac on a hot August night (apologies to Neil Diamond), a Thursday to be exact. For August, Orpheus is a featured brewery of the month along with Second Self and Southbound.
From the website:
After the fateful serpent bite which killed his wife, Eurydice, Orpheus spent years wandering the earth in mourning. His sad songs eventually moved a stone and opened the entrance to the underworld, where he journeyed down to Hades in search of her. In his wandering, visions of Eurydice danced around in his head, both his curse and his solace.
Ingredients, also from the website:
Hops: Azacca
Grain: Two row barley, white wheat, flaked wheat
Fermentation: House Lactobacillus Mother, French Saison yeast
Other: Blueberries, cold pressed by Arden’s Garden for us
Orpheus Wandering Blues has an alcohol content of 7% by volume, and I paid $6 for an 11-ounce draft. That came with a free Second Self Thai Wheat logo glass.
That glass of Orpheus Wandering Blues arrived an attractive reddish-purple color with almost no head and tart blueberry and peppercorns in the nose. Taking a sip, there’s a puckering sourness and fresh blueberry fruit, a hint of spice perhaps too but the sourness really drowns it out.
Orpheus Wandering Blues is very refreshing indeed. A tasty little saison seasoned with fruit (and hey, saison means season), and I think the tartness adds to the depth of the blueberry experience. Blueberries can be sweet or tart after all. Definitely worth a try, if you can find it.
And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.
*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.
(B)=Bottled
(D)=Draft
