Boon Faro Pertotale

Formerly brewed at Brouwerij F. Boon
Style: Lambic - Faro
Lembeek, Belgium

Serve in Flute, Tumbler

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Thanks to Nate for sharing! Clear brown with a beige head. Caramel, cinnamon, clover and ginger nose. Strange citric taste. Sour and sweet with peach, ginger, caramel, and cardboard. Thin and oxidized body. Interesting, but a tad bit too old in my opnion.

The whole is more than the sum of its parts. Interesting take on the style. I believe that I taste stale Dr. Pepper in there somewhere.

well balanced beer, with all someone who likes the lambics but not to sour would die for. The balanced between the acid, sweetness and bitterness out of the wood is combined in this bottle. Some spicyness might occur out of the wines/sherry's maybe?

Very nice. Sweet, caramel, bourbon. Makes me want to find other faros (maybe older faros even).

25cl bottle: Dark brown with orange edges. Head of fine egg-shell bubbles. Dwindles to a thin ring rather quickly. Quite a pleasing aroma of sugar, musty wood, caramel malts, vinous notes, fruit salad, lacto, and a tiny hint of bubblegum. Medium body, starts off with a tart fruit twang moving towards tea leaves and finally to sour grapes and slight vinegar. The whole time there is a caramel and candysugar sweetness riding through as well as a musty barrel tone. The vineous sourness does seem to get a bit harsh towards the bottom of the glass. Not nearly as sweet as most Faros... actually quite "un-faro-esque."

"There’s no such thing as a bottled faro" Jean-Pierre Van Roy poignantly pointed out during my recent visit to Cantillon, and while that is a reasonable claim from a traditional standpoint, the reality of sweetened lambic is simply unquestionable. While "authentic" brewers continue to eschew those who have shifted towards increasingly marketable toothsome beers, can we blame the consumer? The question can be argued both ways, but that debate is for another time. In my case, Boon’s Faro is simply matter of curiosity and education - giving both sides a chance, as it were. That said, Pertotale pours a deep cloudy red-brown, likely the darkest lambic I’ve tried, and glowing of a malicious crimson. Its off-white foam quickly retreats to a halo revealing an opened disc from which emanates luscious scents. Brown sugar leads the quiet overture that gradually unfurls, one by one, a suite of fruits and spices: cinnamon, apple, vanilla, tomato, cherries, sablé biscuits and blueberries. A decidedly complex arrangement but its character could use volatility and presence. Moving to the tongue, brown sugar continues to impose its ubiquity, reinforced this time by oak, apple pie and cardamom. The swallow finishes with a quenching burst of dry coffee and raspberries, before disappearing altogether. Some sourness is noticeable throughout but bears little effect on the soft sweet combination that is promoted. After all, not the "total loss" the name presumes.

Bottle, cellared for 2 years. I guess this is a beer that probably should be drunk less than two years after pruchase, because I'd say this one went south a while ago. Color is dark amber, without much red tint to it--like the brown suede JPDIPSO mentions in his rating. The head was nice, fine and a light tan or dark creme color, but faded very quickly to a thin layer on the top of the beer. Nose is musty, cidery and pungent, as are most lambics, with hints of apples, grass, maltiness and lambic funk. The taste is astringent, with the lambic sourness offset by a vinous acidic edge. There's a bit of maltiness to this, but almost none of the hoppiness that Boon claims. This tastes to me like a poor cousin to Gueuze--less provocative. I'd skip this one in the future unless I can get it fresh to compare. I'd be interested to see what the cellaring did to it.

Not really exciting. Sweet, with little body. Seemed like a blend of a wine cooler and a not so great gueuze. Ick....

UPDATED: JAN 6, 2008 Wow! I really love you. what must they be thinking, these people? Can’t they see how beautiful you are? Sweet caramel! You remind me of my favorite America’s national drink. People stick things in bourbon barrels to get you’re great taste. You remind me of JP La Roja Grand Reserve. Sweet sour bourbon caramel vanilla yummyness.

Medium cherry brown color. Pours with moderate head. Moderately tart. As it warms a nutty sherry wine character appears. I enjoyed this one. Taste, head, color seem to vary in the reviews; different years, freshness, handling????