Blackberry Wench Jam

Beer Details

• Beer Style: American Sour Ale
• 7
• 10
• Brewery: Ballast Point

Where’s My Wench?

Being up in Seattle leaves me wanting a plethora of Southern California offerings that I just can’t get as easily accessible up here. One of those being Ballast Point’s Sour Wench. The bottle alone screams out tart! I was at a point where I was ready to make a trip down to San Diego just to get this beer

Luckily a good friend, pirate, and Ballast Point employee graced his presence in the pacific north west while on a road trip through half of the country. It was to my luck that he brought a treasure chest full of beer. One of those offerings was a growler full of the wench. This was a happy day.
The wench is tart and bold in blackberries.

However, a boldness in a sour beer is different that the boldness found in the full bodied stout. This boldness comes in the form of sweetness. You feel elegant when drinking this beer. But do be careful when imbibing with sours all day. Just like a candy binge, sours will leave your mouth feeling like it just got nuked and will leave your chest with a fair share of acid reflux.

After indulging in the wench, it was time to figure out a recipe to integrate this beer into. The elegance made me think something different. I haven’t felt this way since Tart of Darkness jam. It only made sense to make this wench into a blackberry jam.

When making quick jams, I tend to use the slow cooker and don’t really use pectin. Rather I use acid from lemon and lime juice. These particular berries weren’t as fresh as I would like, but nonetheless served its purpose. I used a mix of both lemon and lime in this experiment for funsies. For the most part, we followed the same process used in making Tart of Darkness jam that can be found here.

Liquid Wench

Unlike the Tart of Darkness jam. this was more the liquid side. I was hoping for more viscosity in my jam. Perhaps it was the lime juice used. Perhaps it is time to start using pectin in my jam recipes. The flavor is still as expected. Dark berry flavor with a hint of boldness, most likely due to the assistance of the wench.

This jam is great if you are feeling blackberry. For something a little less dark, check out Tart of Darkness jam and don’t be fooled by its name.

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Blackberry Wench Jam ingredients

• 4 cups of blackberries
• 1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar
• 1 lime
• 1 lemon
• Splash of white vinegar
• 1 cup of Blackberry Sour Wench

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Blackberry Wench Jam Directions

• In a slow cooker, place the blackberries, sugar, and Wench. Add the lime juice and vinegar. Let cook on slow for 2 hours. Add some lemon juice. Continue doing this every two hours. Let the ingredients cook in the slow cooker for 8 hours. Turn off and let cool for 1 hour before putting in a mason jar. Slap it on some toast, or in my case, an English muffin.

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