 FlacoAlto (2086), Tucson, Arizona, USA
May 14, 2008
December 2006 Bottle Vintage, Sampled May 2008
Pours with a pink tinged, light tan colored, frothy, initially three-finger thick, fairly quickly disappearing head that shrinks to a persistent, 1-mm of crowning foam. The beer is a bright, red color that shows a stunningly, brilliantly clear, red hue when held up to the light. The aroma smells more of funk than it does of cherry, but it definitely smells of both. Light cherry syrup notes dance around underneath aromatic notes of musty, sweaty horse-blanket, woody mushroom notes, and an only light tartness. There are also notes of lightly toasted oak and toasted, breakfast-cereal like grain here towards the finish. Not the funkiest of Lambics, and the lack of tartness in the nose is a bit unusual; still this is funky enough to be interesting & I like that the cherry aromas play a supporting role. As the beer warms up the sourness becomes much more noticeable in the nose.
Much more sour than the aroma would have suggest; it is even a bit bracing in its acidity. The carbonation is quite pleasing in its frothy texture, though it is not overly carbonated (on the high side for a standard American Beer). This is almost bone dry, so much so that the cherry flavors are actually fairly muted. Lactic acid notes dominate, both there does seem to be just a touch of some sharper acids here. Sour cherry fruit notes, with some tannic cherry skin flavors and a hint of juicy cherry pulp join the more traditional Lambic sour-grapefruit-like fruit flavors. A touch of grassy, crushed-wheat like grain character just kisses the taste buds towards the finish. This predominantly leans towards sourness in its funkiness, but there are some musty, damp earth flavors, some light and some almost clean, barnyard notes. There is also a nice foundation of wood character here that contributes a tannic-influenced heft to the mouthfeel, some toasty, woody-oak flavors, with just a touch of spiciness in the finish.
A fresh pour from my 750ml bottle really accents an aromatic note of funky, woody, earthy mushroom note that even leans a bit towards toe-cheese (that wonderful, funky gunk found in between your toes after a long, hard working, sweaty day in shoes). This doesn’t seem to manifest itself in the flavor though.
While the cherry character is fairly soft here, this is much more traditional tasting than I was expecting. I think it is even more traditional than recent examples of the Gueuze Cuvée René. Really, I think the fact that this is bone dry has really helped this along; it doesn’t really have much of a funkiness to it, but the fact that it does not have any sweetness (sweet being the antitheses of a decent Lambic), makes this all the more palatable. Even the nose is not overly funky, it just was a bit more noticeable at first because of the slight cherry influence and minimal sourness at first. My biases are definitely showing, but this is definitely an enjoyable beer to be drinking right now.
ekstedt (1792), Göteborg, Sweden
Aug 29, 2008 Bottle (75 cl) from Systembolaget. Deep violet, fantastic dark pink head. Soft fresh cherry aroma on a grapefruit cidery base. Some oak notes in the background. Moussy mouthfeel. Very dry by a firm but yet slightly restrained acidity, and a soft bitterness.
radiomgb (1749), Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
Aug 28, 2008 Murky brown in colour (I had the bottom of the bottle, other pours were deep red) with a long lasting pinkish head, good lacing. The aroma is acidic, very tart, lots of cherries, oak and a bit of yeast. The flavour is of cherry tartness, dry, cheese, leather, wood, sour and acidic. Dry mouthfeel, medium body, medium/high carbonation. Finishes long, dry and the acidity seems to pick up.
This is very good, ends quite sour and lingering. Highly drinkable.
750ml bottle shared by IPFreely, thanks Tim.
Opened on March 28, 2008.
Bottled on December 21, 2006 and best before December 21, 2112.
Ljunkan (120), Karlstad, Sweden
Aug 16, 2008 75 cl bottle. Beatiful deep dark red color with a nice pink head. I really like to look at this beer. Fantastic. Aroma is vinous with notes of smoke, stable and other lambic-like aromas. Flavour is vinous, sour/acid with some slight sweetness and some sour cherries, though the cherries isn’t that prominent. It was something I thought about when drinking it but I didn’t write it down, but now I know - almonds! Mouthfeel is a bit rough, but in a good way. Great kriek!
Todeon (170), Höllviken, Sweden
Aug 14, 2008 Bottle. Color is amazingly beautiful. Dark and deep red color. Really easy to drink. Really thin mouthfell. Taste is a bit sour with some almonds and cherry notes.
Marsiblursi (1400), Göteborg, Sweden
Aug 10, 2008 (Bottle) The pour is just fantastic with a deep and concentrated cherry red colour. The medium pink head holds some hints of lilac. The aroma is a well-balanced mix of cherry juice, old oak wood and mild funky/moldy/horse blanket/light barnyard-like yeast. The nose is light to medium tart and acid sour. Sweetness from a distant maltiness brings a perfect balance to the mild citric sourness. The flavour is of citrus (lemon and lime) and tart cherries alongside tones of wood and a funky, bretty yeast. Medium acidic and light sweet. The mouthfeel is tart and dry on the finish. Medium bodied. This beer holds a rather complex nose. The flavour is quite simplistic but well balanced.
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