travita (1851), Frisco, Texas, USA Dec 29, 2008 Smell is cranberry, maple, wheat, sweet, and yeast. Look is a reddish amber color, clear, and with an off white head. Thin feel and dryish. Taste is canberry, other fruits, yeast. JaBier (1130), Capital City, Ohio, USA Dec 28, 2008 12oz bottle. Pours a pinkish amber with a large pink head. Aroma is overly yeasty, making me think they went way too far with the Belgian concept and forgot the lambic part. There is a hint of tart fruit in the nose as well. Some tart cranberry flavor, but it is overpowered by the yeastiness. Seeing as I am not a big fan of yeasty beers to begin with, I had to dump this one. bsm80 (144), Massapequa, New York, USA Dec 28, 2008 12 oz. bottle from the Sam Adams winter pack. I was sure I would not like this beer, and I was right. Way too sweet, tasted more like carbonated cranberry juice than beer, but my girlfriend loved it, its all personal preference I suppose. ROGUE (621), Newark, Delaware, USA Dec 26, 2008 12 ounce bottle. The beer pours a hazy reddish orange. The head sticks around for a bit leaving rings of white lace. The aroma has a bit of a sweet and sour fruit. The beer is slightly sweet and has a vinigary finish. The after taste is a bit sour, but no hints of cranberries. The beer is medium bodied with average carbonation. Not too much of a lambic and not that great.
jbuzz (658), South Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA Dec 24, 2008 a very nice holiday beer. good tart an sweet mix. not overly fruity. dry an easy todrink. ericandersnavy (1039), crossroads, Texas, USA Dec 23, 2008 bottle thanks to swalden28. poured a reddish color with a thick light pinkish head and some unbelievable lacing. i gave this a 4 because of the amount of lacing. aroma of cranberry, raspberry, and some tartness. flavor was same as the nose. very high carb almost like champagne. really not bad at all, i did overrate it however. jhumphries69 (717), Tyrone, Georgia, USA Dec 22, 2008 12oz bottle. Pours a cloudy, pinkish red with highlights of orange and violet. The head pours fairly thin and is light pink in color. The aroma is strong with wheat and noticeably fruity with cranberry. There is a subtle earthy/leathery quality to it, too. The flavor starts fruity with a subtle wine-like character and a pleasant tartness. Some grain character can be detected under the big layers of fruit. The beer has a surprisingly high level of residual sweetness, which is disappointing. At mid-palate, there is a slight earthiness - I really dont know if there are any hops in this though (perhaps, as it doesnt cloying despite the sweetness). The finish is full and much like cranberry juice cocktail with a light, wheaty, cereal note that prevents from being cloying - or does it? The mouthfeel is well-bubbled, but surprisingly low considering the target style here. The body is surprisingly full - more like a juice than a beer. Overall, a very mediocre attempt. If it were simply drier - a lot drier - this could be really nice. Especially if the dryness came from the intensely flavorful bacteria and brett inoculation to give it more complexity. I would say it needs less fruit, but some authentic lambics have a lot of fruit, too. But authentic lambics (at least aged lambic like gueuze) will be dry and highly-carbonated - both attributes are suspiciously absent from missing... Perhaps they going for plain lambic, which is young, less funky, and sweeter. But plain lambic doesnt generally have any fruit and is generally uncarbonated. So the appellation is a poor one. I would applause Sam Adams for trying something as adventurous as this, but other brewers in America have been able to come much closer to this mark. I am upset that they sneak this into the mixed-12-pack as it is decidedly the low point compared to the other beers therein. punkrkr27 (606), Berkley, Michigan, USA Dec 22, 2008 Reddish brown pour with a fizzy pink head. Straw and cereal malt aromas with some cranberry and faint honey and sourness. Much more tartness and cranberry in the flavor. Has a fair amount of straw and wheat background. Medium-thin body with lots of fizzy carbonation.
|