De Troch Chapeau Cuvee

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Best By Date of April 2012; Sampled February 2008
Not superbly carbonated, a somewhat vigorous pour produces a scant, not even fully covering, pale off-white colored head. The beer shows a few meager bubbles wandering up through a clear, bright gold colored brew. As I pour this brew I get notes that are tart, funky and authentic. A deeper inspection of the aroma yields sour lactic notes, uriatic cat piss, green apple notes, light barnyard, a hint of spiciness (both oak and funk), phenolic/solvent soaked cotton balls, light grain character and a nice splash of lemon. The aroma is perhaps a bit on the smooth side as traditional Lambics go, but all of the components are certainly here.

Quite soft on the acidity up front, the acidity does pick up through the middle though and provides a mildly bracing sourness that lingers on in the finish. The light carbonation provides a tiny prickle of effervescence that just starts to offset the medium light body of this brew. Easily quaffable though, which is certainly a requirement for this style (assuming you can get past the acidity). The tartness while definitely lactic, provides a sharp flavor of lemons that really serves to clean the palate quite well. Fairly mellow in the funk department though, but soft notes of urea, woody mushroom and a hint of funky-mold-ripened-cheese. As the beer warms up the acidity softens up a bit more, but the funkiness becomes a bit more noticeable.

This is perhaps a touch heavy for my tastes in Lambic, but an ample carbonation would go a long way towards balancing this out. This is definitely a Lambic though, even if it is on the soft sides of the spectrum, though it is harder than some of the Boon vintages that I have had.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 5

Hazy yellow colour, mediumsized white head. Aroma is pretty much sour fruits and apricot. Flavour is very sour, earthy and mouldy. Not very exciting in my opinion...