Samuel Adams Cranberry Lambic

loudy peach color w/ a small off-white head. Aroma is fruity w/ some yeast popping out. The more I sniff I’m picking up a sour sort of something, but on the next whiff I detect sweet. I must admit, the aroma intrigues me. Flavor...not so much. Initially syrupy sweet, fading into a dry, sour finish. Makes the mouth water, not for more though. Good lacing hanging on.

best part off the beer is the appearance which is reddish amber, but not really appropriate for a lambic. flavor has some cranberry but overall is just sugary sweetness and would never be conffused with a lambic. almost undrinkable

Bottled. Not a Lamibc in any way, shape, or form, but I still enjoy this beer. Pours with a pink tinge and head. Nose is sour, fruity. Flavor is wheaty with a nice, tart, cranberyy taste in the finish. Mouthfeel is a bit fizzy. Refreshing though mislabeled. More of a fruit-flavored wheat beer.

12oz Bottle, Winter Variety Pack: Cloudy peach color w/ a small off-white head. Aroma is fruity w/ some yeast popping out. The more I sniff I’m picking up a sour sort of something, but on the next whiff I detect sweet. I must admit, the aroma intrigues me. Flavor...not so much. Initially syrupy sweet, fading into a dry, sour finish. Makes the mouth water, not for more though. Good lacing hanging on. This is one bizarre brew...yikes.

Bottle. Hate the variety, but this came in a mix pack. Red orange pour with a nice sized off white head. Aroma was quite dull and weak for a lambic. The cranberry smell is very faint and not sweet. Taste was sweet and almost decent initially but then a distinct rotten funk emerges and its aftertaste is very bad. Don’t like lambics; especially not this one.

Bottle. After the recent thread on the subject and in a fit of apparent self-hatred or least hard-core masochism, I decided I had to try this beer.

Wow. This one didn’t let me down. It was as weird and as far from a lambic as I had expected from SA. Indeed, this was a strange and unfortunate concoction. A mild sour off aroma with some sticky fruit-juice notes, stale Coors spilled on the floor of a mildewed cellar. Flavor like a rank wheat beer cut with syrup (which I suppose is more an accurate description than it is a simile.)

On the positive side,

(1) I could taste enough funk that I can at least understand why they call it a lambic instead of a wine cooler,

(2) I actually managed finished the bottle.

(3) My curiosity satisfied, I have no need to ever return to this stuff.

Poured into a flute with a medium frothy off white head. Nose of yeast, tart cranberries and resin. Initial taste of cranberries, sweet malts, sugar and some barnyard funk. But overall the flavor is muted and not very mouth pleasing. The next layer is vinous but short. Finishing with a mild berry and dry palate. Resin is also apparent. Good lacing of the glass and head retention. Least there is one impressive aspect. Palate duration is short, light to medium body.

12oz bottle from Winter Sampler. Pours an amber body with orange highlights. The beer is topped by a 1.5 finger thick, loose, foamy white head. Decent retention and pretty nice lacing. Nose is artificial cranberries, brown sugar, molasses and vinegar. Pretty muted which I guess is sort of a good thing. Fore is acidic fruits, cranberry, preserves, .sweet sugars. Funky yeast and berries highlight the back end. Light bodied, acidic and heavily astringent. Finish is the worst part of the beer, fully concentrated artificial cranberry in ungodly amounts, with an off putting sour funk to go along with it. I love sour beers, but for some reason this combination is triggering my gag reflex. Maybe because it’s unbearably sweet at the same time, and there is that whole artificial/metallic thing going on with the berries. Unfortunately this stays with you for quite a while. Not good, glad I gave my other bottle away. Gets worse the more you drink of it so ultimately this is a drain pour.