Panil Divina

Brewed by Panil Birra Artigianale - Birrificio Torrechiara
Style: Lambic - Unblended
Torrechiara-Parma, Italy

Serve in Flute, Tumbler

Pours yellow with a white bubbly head. Smells of wet horse, floral, some residual sugary hints, dry wheat, funky. Tastes of strong funk with an acidic finish.

Leicht holzig-säuerlicher Antrunk, mild aber doch bestimmt in die säuerliche Richtung. Dementsprechend wird dies im Mittelteil auch etwas stärker, bleibt aber auf einem nicht überschwenglichem Niveau und so gut genießbar. Im Abgang milder, die Säuerlichkeit steht fast alleine im Vordergrund, wenig holzig und herb, erfrischend. Vielen Dank an den Doppelbock für das Bier. -/9/9/10/12/10

Bottle pulled by Manuele from somewhere in the depths of the shared cellar with Bir&Fud & Makke. Gusher. Cloudy yellow. Aroma of sour and dusty lemon peel. Taste is sour grapefruit. Every bit as good as a Belgian lambic.

375mL labeled as Birrificio Torrechiara Birra Speciale Divina. The first experimental sour from what is now Panil. The pour is a hazy light yellow with almost no head. Spotty white lace emerges. Aroma is pear, peach, sweet pie, baked pear, birthday cake. Taste is lemon, sugar, pear, really not much there- soft fruit and water. Palate is tart and watery.

Bottled 375ml. It pours a murky lactic orange beer with a fast diminishing small bubbly head. Honey, fresh bread, dust, green apples, burnt match, vitamin tablets, mandarin orange, elderflower, rubber, white wine and dinosaur slime show up in the nose. Not much lacework. Moderate sourness. Sweeter than expected. No carbonation. Medium bodied. Yeast accented. Peppery on the swallow. Earthy spicy hop profile. Some residual sugars in the finish which is reminiscent of fresh bread and elderflower. This unblended lambic is quite different to what I expected. Interesting.

(Bottle) Golden colour, slightly hazy, with brief bubbly white head. Fruity, tart nose with citrus, unripe grapes, green apples and the unmistakable cheesey, sweaty lambic aromas. Tart, fruity taste with notes grapes, grapefruit, green apples and a dry, sour finish with hints of hay and dust. Medium body, dry, with soft carbonation. Very nice, doesn’t really reach the complexity of the best Belgian lambics and gueuzes, but still ... I’m impressed.

75cl bottle. Pours a clear orangish gold body with a small fizzy white head that quickly vanished completely. Some light visible carbonation. The nose is slightly funky with some lemon rind, lots of oak, light cider vinegar, a touch of acetic acid, and some odd stinky feet and light green apple notes. The flavor isn’t all that bad, but I wouldn’t say that it tastes especially like authentic Lambic. Some green apple skins, oak tannins, some slight acidity but not much, Cheerio like cereal grain, and just a touch of funkiness. Not much in the way of "cellar" funk, just funky like an American Wild. Finishes with a little bit of a sweetness like I get from some Gueuzes. It almost tastes like there’s a bit of a cork note on the finish as well, but this wasn’t corked, so not sure what’s going on there. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, not completely dry, quite tannic from the oak, with decent fine fizzy carbonation. At first I really didn’t like this all that much, but the more I have the better it seems to get. Doesn’t cut it in the traditional Lambic sense, but independantly it’s pretty drinkable. This one grows on ya, not a beer to judge by a small sample.

In short: A very rustic/barnyard sour dusty ale. Strange, tasty and surprisingly good.
How: Bottle 375ml. Consumed when over 2 year of age.
The look: A lot of yeast chunks in an ugly cloudy peach color body. Medium white head with low retention
In long: The strong nose is extra-musty, sour, mega-dusty attic, old dusty carpet… (you get the picture). To call this nose “rustic” would be an understatement. Taste is acidic and sour with plenty of cheese, a lot of citrus, some fruits skin, leather, barnyard, grapefruits, strong lactic notes. Finish is sharp, extremely dry and dusty. Body is full and carbonation is medium. This is an intense beer. A sipper. This is not a great beer but this is tasty and original. You won’t mistake it for a real Belgian Lambic but this is definitely something I’d like to have once in a while if it wasn’t so pricey (and rare). But I can treat myself a few pricey beer now that I have convinced my girlfriend that a fur coat would make her look fat.