Unibroue Éphémère Cassis

Brewed by Unibroue (Sapporo)
Style: Fruit Beer
Chambly, Canada

Clouded amber appearance, lively head formation. Sweet fruity but subtle blackcurrant aroma. Sparkling and dry, champagne like palate, fairly light in body. Sweet blackcurrant (Ribena) flavor but subtle against the dryness, fairly close to perfectly balanced. It’s not great or complex, but definitely a fruit beer I could drink a few of.

Opaque golden with medium white head. Aroma is blackberry, malty, light sweet -- very pleasant, not too fruity. Taste has even less blackberry, so little that it goes too far. Light body.

Intense fruit aroma, almost too much, like the cassis syrup I bought in France and found a useful ingredient in white wine cocktails. Significant carbonation lends the sense that this is a sparkling wine. The flavor has more of a mineral water feel, effervescent, sweet, robust fruit. Unremarkable by appearance.

From bottle at State College 8th Annual Festival. Has a nice black currant fruity bouquet with just a bit of wheat underneath. Hazy golden amber in color with thin off-white head. Medium to light in body with medium carbonation. Predominantly, there is a nice fruity black currant taste to this beer, with mild tartness and juicy fruity flavor. But, just like the apple, it tends to be a bit watery in substance at the finish. After is mild fruity chalky taste.

750 mL: corked & caged, best before 01.19.2007: hazy, golden peach with the characteristic tightly bubbled bleached white foam, generous and load (the intense carbonation is audible…), anyway sweet fruity aroma, reminds me of blueberries or blackberries and has a (not surprisingly) yeasty presence. White grape flavours stick on the fizzy palate with bits of orange flesh and other citrus notes along side smooth creamy yeast, a slight sourness and a touch of metallic zest. Pretty nice, easy drinking brew, but the cranberry and apple were more interesting…

Light, almost peach colored head. The body is dark orange with copious amounts of bubbles. The aroma is rich with blueberries and raspberries. Honestly, I have never smelled a currant by itself. There is also a hint of rich bread. The taste is drier than I expected. It has a hint of champagne with some grape juice. There is also some light toasted bread crust. This is light and dry, a good aperitif. Not my thing, but if you enjoy dry sparkling white wines, you might enjoy it.

Name: Ephemere - Black Current
Date: 06/08/2006
Mode: Bottle
Source: Wild Wing Cafe, Marietta

amber, big fine white head, sweet fruity aroma, great balanced fruit flavor, light bitterness

Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 5/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 13/20
Rating: 3.2/5.0
Drinkability: 8/10
Score: **+/4

Full aroma of grapes, raspberries, black cherries - cloudy golden with a slight purple-ish tint - very dry and tart - soft carbonation - a bit wheaty, with very faint grape/cherry flavors - a good try but it’s mostly uninteresting.