375 mL bottle, corked & capped. Bottled 23rd December 2009. Blood red, scarlet pour with a big fizzy, pink head on the pour. Obviously this fades quickly to leave no lace and there is almost no retention. The nose makes it obvious that this going to be pretty tart. A little funk in the nose and we also get a touch of the horseblanket in the tastes. Initial tastes (unsurprisingly) prove that. Some light fruit, but otherwise it is ALL dry, tart, apple notes with the usual cider elements...
Notes on beers in the style
Lambic - Fruit
Cantillon Fou’ Foune
Most recently (March, 8th 2023) as a surprise gift from Dave Blanchard at The Brick Store, Atlanta, GA, USA (pictured) Last purchased ($60) at Monks in Philadelphia, summer 2015 to celebrate signing a book writing contract. Original notes 07/16/10 It's funny how these things work out, and over the years I learned that it's just SO much better to simply roll with the punches. What am I talking about? Well, for many years I've stared at bottle of this on the shelves in Atlanta and decide to pass...
Chapeau Peche Lambic
Oh gosh, not at all good. Like the "Exotic" version in this series, the pop on opening is disappointing, and the beer remains suspiciously flat. Pour gives a dark golden or amber body with just about ZERO head, retention or lace. Like the pineapple version, it looks dead. The nose has a really musty, old aroma. No freshness date though. Good grief, a sharp, acidity meets the palate and coupled with some sweetness and the earthy, old notes we have a mess. Some metal coinage lingers on various...
Chapeau Framboise Lambic
The 12 oz, mini champagne bottle with dimpled bottom and capped and corked presentation (along with the somewhat cheesy label), is impressive. This bottle came from Camp Creek Beverage near the Airport, Atlanta, GA, USA. Pour is quite well carbonated and gives a brownish, red body with a decent amount of carbonation, retention and lace. Looks promising. The nose on this beer is AMAZING. It takes me back to my childhood where the aroma of Hartley's raspberry jam come FLOODING back. Strong,...
Chapeau Exotic
12 oz, champagne style, dimpled bottomed bottle. Capped and corked. Pop on opening is disappointing, suspiciously flat. Pour gives a golden body with just about ZERO head, retention or lace. Looks dead. The nose has a strange mixed fruit note with bananas and pineapple apparently present. The tastes are strangely solvent like (despite the low ABV) and it lingers to give a touch of plastic amongst the pineapple. I love pineapple but to be honest this is pretty nasty. It has a strong solvent...
Chapeau Banana Lambic
12 oz, mini champagne, corked and capped affair from Camp Creek Beverage, Atlanta, GA, USA. Dimpled bottom. Pour is a nasty looking, malt liquor colored, golden hue with minimal head and a LOT of dark golden floaties. Unattractive. Nose gives off an artificial sweetness, detectable as "fruity" but not especially banana based. The taste reflects this mystery fruit, although it is more banana-like than the nose. Musty, cardboard enters the equation as well. Cloyingly sweet and not much else. Odd...
Chapeau Kriek Lambic
OK, interesting. Bought this one with four others from Camp Creek Beverage back in March of this year. At the time I knew that they had been around for quite a while, so I expect that these a quite old, BUT with no freshness dating of any description on the beer it simply isn't possible to know. If brewers don't put dates then I think it's entirely legitimate to review their beers. 12 oz mini-champagne, capped and corked. The cork is tight but it does not leave the bottle with much pop. Body...
Cherish Kriek Lambic
$3.00 for the 8.4 oz bottle from Bruisin' Ales, Asheville, NC, USA. This one is poured into the Gouden Carolus small chalice. Appearance is pretty much as expected. A light brown, slightly reddish body with some nice, simple head and some decent lace. Nose is a simple, understated cherry with a promise of sweetness. Tastes are a delightful sweet and sour combo. As with many fruit based lambics the sweetness comes first and then the sour kicks in at the back end. Deep cherry notes are...
Cherish Raspberry Lambic
$3.00 from Bruisin' Ales, Asheville, NC, USA for the 8.4 fl oz bottle. Beautiful color on the pour with complete clarity and a stunning, bright, cherry-red pour. A small pink, finely bubbled head forms with a touch of lace. Nose has a touch of an artificial feel about it, BUT it is very fruity. Light tartness, authentic raspberry flavor and an interesting sweet/sour combo. Not as sweet as it first appears. Finishes drier than I was expecting. Drinks magnificently. Tasty.
Boon Oude Kriek
Corked and caged 375 mL bottle. Opens with a mild pop; SB 45 on the cork. Unreadable dot-matrixed date in the "Best Before" portion of the label. Light pink head sits upon the light burgundy body. Some tobacco like floaty bits sink to the bottom of the Duvel tulip. Acidic, apple cider like funk permeates the air. It has a very slight fruit note in the back, but it's not really significant. Taste is SIGNIFICANTLY more acidic than one expects from the nose - REALLY puckering in a Cantillon type...
Boon Framboise
Updated notes 01/05/23 (pictured) 2018 vintage, $11.99 from Gay's in Angola, IN, a ridiculous find in the middle of nowhere all things considered. This bottle is marked as being BB 29/08/2021, so around 17 months past what the brewery considers its best, but that's pretty subjective when it comes to beers like this one. Carbonation is low - not zero, but low, and that's a shame. If it had held up a little more, this would have been better. Tastes haven't changed that much from the original...
Oud Beersel Framboise
$6.99 for the 375 mL, corked & caged bottle from Mac's in Atlanta, GA, USA. SB 52 on the cork. Seemed like another good choice for Valentine's Day. A light pop on opening, but nothing dramatic. A mild puff of gun smoke. A pinkish, orange body that looks a little thin and lacks much depth. Some lace, but not great deal. Nose is big on the tart raspberries. The beer is a simple, relatively non-complex lambic that has a larger level of tart character than the Kriek version, but is still pretty...
Oud Beersel Kriek
$6.99 for the 375 mL, corked & caged bottle from Mac's in Atlanta, GA, USA. SB 54 on the cork. Seemed like a good choice for Valentine's Day. A light pop on opening, but nothing dramatic. A mild puff of gun smoke. Nice, dark cherry red body (a touch on the brown side), with a lovely, subtle pinkish tinge to the head. Dark, black cherries meet the nose. A touch of ethanoic acid in the nose. The beer is a simple, relatively non-complex lambic that has only a light level of tartness. An...
Kiwi Lambic
Lucked out with this one. In town for a few days from the ATL, and Mike (BA sprinkle) happened to have persauded his wife to part with her bottle of the Kiwi for a tasting at Crown #15 in Fishers, IN, USA. MANY thanks - MUCH appreciated by me. Totally coincidently, review #1800. Original batch, one of only 48 released bottles. Sampled on three small pours. Golden yellow color with pretty much complete clarity. No carbonation, head, lace or retention to speak of. Fruit notes are basically...
Cantillon Saint Lamvinus
2007 vintage, capped and corked in the 750 mL bottle. Label slightly different than the BA db picture AND the label lists this at a 5% beer. Aged in Oak Barrels and has the Merlot grape addition. $29.95 from Green's, Buford Highway, Atlanta, GA, USA. Look, I've been to the Brussels brewery twice, travelled extensively in Northern France and Belgium so I know what I'm talking about, but I have to say the beauty and subtlety of Cantillon and the harsh Lambics still at least partially evades me....
Lindemans Kriek
$7.99 from Showcase Beverage, Carrollton, GA, USA. 750 mL bottle, capped, corked and foiled. Well, it is what it is and this always confuses the Lambic landscape. Quite how one goes from a beer (or beers) that Lindemans puts out over to a typical Cantillon and call them both Lambics is always a bit of a mystery, but there you are. Dark magenta pour with a pink head and some good carbonation. Aroma and tastes are all black cherries, and a nice, non-artificial one at that. Obviously this is...
Drie Fonteinen Oude Kriek
$8.99 at Green's on Ponce, Atlanta, GA, USA. 12.7 oz bottle corked (with that nasty, synthetic cork) and caged. Lot #02, bottled in December 2005. Label declares that this is good for at least 10 years after the bottling date. As expected, very little "pop" on opening. Carbonation on the pour is nearly zero. Poured into the Brasserie de l'Abbaye des Rocs chalice the beer has a dark magenta/blood red color that is completely opaque. Completely bereft of carbonation or head. Nose and taste lack...
Kriek De Ranke
Been putting this off for a long time. I'm a little wary of Fruit Lambics in general, but on the other hand De Ranke is certainly an attraction. Anyway, finally got around to it. $11.95, paper wrapped bottle, Green's on Ponce, Atlanta, GA, USA. Capped and corked. Corked look as though it was one of those plastic ones, but I'm afraid I never got to see it - when I attempted to push the corkscrew into it, it fell into the beer! Consequently a pain in the ass to get the beer to pour. Really...
Lindemans Apple
355 mL bottle, Arbor Place Beverage. Finally got around to trying this after a very long time of observing it on the shelves and wondering if I would like it. High, fluffy, off-white head and some lace. The body is an attractive, pale gold, lightly clouded and mildly carbonated combo. The tastes and the aromas are linked together via a over-sweet, artifical apple flavor. Doesn't seem very natural at all. Not much else present. Quite drinkable, but only in very small quanties. Another Lindeman...
St. Louis Framboise
My guess is, is that lots of people will not like this much. First off this is a VERY sweet beer. I like that, many will not. I like this type of beer for an occasional change of pace. Truth be known, it's really a girly beer, but every once in a while I don't mind something like it. I'm giving it a 5.0 for drinkability, BUT only on the understanding that even for me, in the wrong circumstances it could also be a 2.0! Pour is certainly red, but it goes from a dark red when the oversized...
Mort Subite Cassis
Dark orange/pink pour with a fantastic head and magnificent lacing. As some others have noticed there was a certain champagne like character to this beer. Obvious sweet start with the infused blackcurrant taste, that gives a degree of tartness in the finish but not much else. Very fruity and refreshing, but this for me is strictly a once in a very long while brew. Less obviously syrupy and sweet that the Lindemans range of "Lambics", and a million times more drinkable than much of the...
Cantillon Kriek 100% Lambic
Despite the fact that I've drunk several saison's and I know that Lindemans lambics are very, very sweet and not representative of the classic style, you're never quite ready for the jolt to the taste buds that this beer provides. Very low carbonation and a crimson, hazy body with no head or lacing. Lots of floating sediment appeared to be in place too. A very organic smell, a bit like horse manure! Not very thrilling to the nose for the uninitiated, as expected for the rest. I'm afraid that...
Lindemans Framboise
Bright red pour with the classic, frothy, large pink head. Fairly serious pink lacing! Intense syrupy raspberry taste and equally strong aroma of sugary fruit. Definitely "one for the ladies", and despite its qualifications I can barely ever think of this as beer. Don't get me wrong, I like to drink it occasionally (very occasionally), but it remains a novelty drink for me, and not one I can take that seriously. Great conversation starter, but really only good for light drinking summer days...
Boon Kriek
Additional Notes 12/02/22 (Pictured): A lot of changes in a review of this 17 years after the original notes. Carbonation in terms of the bottle pressure is much lower, and the beer itself was much less annoying in that department than it formerly was. The color is also better, as it is has a really unmistakable, dark cherry red and lovely pink complementary head. This time cherries are obvious, there's light sweetness and it seems deliciously balanced. Even with the balance I still never want...
Lindemans Pêche
A pale orange/pink pour with a head that disappears pretty quickly. Unlike the Cassis, this looks like beer with the pale orange look of a lager. The aroma and initial tastes are very fruity, but in a wine cooler type way. Very sweet initially that drops off. Even thouggh there is a distinct fruit flavor, it's not especially "peachy". It reminds my of cheap champagne or a desert wine with some apples thrown in. This is a very light drink, good for non-serious summer consumption, but not really...
Lindemans Cassis
$7.99 750 mL, Arbor Place Beverage, Douglasville, GA, USA. About twenty-five years ago when I was taking my first tentative steps as a teenager into alcohol, one of the the most common drinks that we used to experiment with was a "Lager and Black". Very simply this would be a pint of macro lager, often something like a Carling Black Label, Carlsberg, Heineken or the like, with a large dash of Blackcurrant cordial (syrup) thrown in the top. This was simply a variation on the much more common...