Hanssens Experimental Cassis

Brewed by Hanssens Artisanaal
Style: Lambic - Fruit
Dworp, Belgium

Serve in Flute, Tumbler

Bottle. Pours with a hazy blood red hue with no head. Aroma of funk, horse, barnyard brett, light acidity, oak and currants. Vanilla. Taste is sour up front, acetic, berries, a bit vegital, vanilla from the oak. A lasting metallic flavor. Doesn’t help that this is flat (like the Experimental Raspberry). Next to know carbonation. Feels flabby, but thin. The first part of the taste is nice, but the aftertaste is very vegital and it lasts. Not the biggest fan to be perfectly honest.

A: The pour is a really fantastic looking dark purple color with a small ring of bubbles from a somewhat aggressive pour. The beer is quite flat, however. S: The nose is of wood and dark fruit. The currants aren’t overly expressive and somewhat sweet, despite the way Hanssens lambics usually are. A nice funk to this one of hay and barnyard. T: A lightly acetic sourness accompanied by a decent lactic sourness, too. Overall, though, not overly sour. Quite woody and dry with some very nice currant flavor and some hints of blackberries. M: The beer is slightly slick on the tongue, with a medium body and complete lack of carbonation. D: This is certainly not overly tart or aggressive in any manor, and it’s quite easy to drink because of that.

At De Heeren van Liedekercke beerfest. Pours a cloudy purple color with almost no head. A sour vinegar nose, wood and only light fruit. The flavor is similar; very tart, currants are there but take a backseat to ripe tart wood and vinegar. Enjoyable.

375 c&c from South Bay Drug. Pours ruby so brilliant that it compares to my avatar. Head is essentially absent. Nice sour aroma. Could be kriek. Probably not. Medium body with almost no carbonation. It’s sleekly smooth. It’s smoothly sour. ?????? Cassis? Ok. Maybe cherry would be more sour. It’s just wonderful. Definitely astringent. Very good stuff.

Had this at BCTC after the fest, back at the campsite. Pours a ruby and garnet crimson with a medium sized pink head. Acid and vinegar, fruit and berries. Tart acid and fruit, a bit thin. Lots of vinegar and acid. More acid and fruit on the finish.

Bottle at Hopleaf. Pours brownish purple with no head, just a few bubbles, and a funky fruit aroma. There is a sour black currant flavor with a dry finish that sticks to the palate. The currants are a bit musty, but this is a unique brew that is worth drinking.

375ml, 2nd batch. stenchy rotted wood and water-logged limp vegetables in the nose. something akin to sour smoked blackberries and spackle-coated currant comes to mind.. med-thin body, zero head, very low carbonation, mild to medium acid, mild tartness. weak structure overall. strange sour and wet/soggy wood barrel and dishsoap peat come to mind. not exactly enjoyable

Bottle. No pop to the cork pours flat with a nice slightly hazy ruby red, almost raspberry colored body. No head. The flavor is pretty faint. A bit of acidic fruit qualities (seem more raspberry oriented than current) with a weird mustiness... not like any mustiness I have ever encountered with a lambic before. The flavor is very dry and one dimensional. Its fruity, but a weird fruity. The acidic sharpness is not on part with other Hanssens. Meidum bodied with only a very slight hint of carbonation. Overall: not what I expected. The first hanssens lambic to underwhelm me, ESPECIALLY at this price. Maybe at 3-5 dollars a pint I’d be knocking these back at the bar, but not at $14/12.7oz. I really hope this is just a weird bottle because I absolutely love every other Hanssens lambic I have tasted.