Samuel Adams Cranberry Lambic

Brewed by Boston Beer Company
Style: Fruit Beer
Boston, Massachusetts USA

BOTTLE: reddish pink pour, somewhat creamy head. Nose is cranberry and honey. Taste is cranberry, no where near as tart as I expected it would be. Very easy drinking, without much character.

from notes.. Pour is pinkish with pinkish head as well. Aroma is sweet cranberry berry and honey. This beer is a disaster, one of my singlely least favorite offering from sam adams. No traditional lambic flavor or qualities, just honey and sweet fruit in an ale. Even if rated from a fruit beer point of view this lacks subtlety and drinkability. Two thumbs way down

A blush-like rose pink color. One finger of pinkish off-white head. Cloudy, but light glows through. Looks great, head sticks around for a minute. The wild spicy Belgian yeasts kick in first. But the cranberry that comes afterward is sweet, not bitter like cranberries can be. Spicy and tart in the nose. The taste is immensely sour at the first sip; big time pucker. That maple syrup to which the label refers adds sweetness. Tart cranberries come in, and then Belgian ale spices. This is more like a fruity Belgian than a traditional lambic. Grape skins with warmth. Unusual, but really pretty good. The feel is bubbly like champagne, but also thick and syrupy. A dry finish. This is a solid beer, tart and sweet. Not really a traditional lambic, despite its astringency. Not a bitter note to be found, just berries and Belgian spices.

ppearance=looks like a glass of apple cider with a decently thick head that disappears quickly into nothing with no lacing. S=Cranberrys factor in highly as expected but also includes honey and a slight hint of alcohol. Not bad. Taste and mouthfeel=This gives lambics a bad name. I see that it is not classified as such on this site (nor should it be) but since Samuel Adams uses this label prominently, I will review it against such. This is awful. Rather than the sourness of a great Cantillon or the sweetness of a good Lindemans, this is just Sam Adams Lager mixed with Cranberry Juice and maple syrup. No sweetness or sourness to speak of. Thin bodied with moderate to high carbonation. The juice comes across as more watering down the lager than enhancing it. Drinkability..while this goes down easy, I will probably only drink it again to finish off my supply from the holiday sampler.

Just really not that great... not very much like your traditional tangy Belgian lambic. I’d take a real one over this any day.

Amber-orange hue, lots of Belgian lace. Filtered and appears more like a pale ale than a lambic. Nose has complex fruit aromas with yeasty estery aromas that are quite appealing. Fresh bread? Medium bodied with a nice, drinkable mix of sourness with fruityness. Not like most lambics. This one is easy drinking and less savory.

bottle left over from Fockerstock 09. A slightly cloudy rose/pink with a spotty rolling head. Nose of cranberries and wet wheat. Body is medium and creamy. a nice balance between the extended cranberry tang ans the strong wheat malt sweetness. didn’t get the banannas or nutmeg some clove hints at edge.

Had this in a holiday sampler pack. Wasn’t overally impressed with it. Dark red color with a nice white head. Aroma of cranberries and strong cranberry flavor.