Iron Hill Cassis de Hill

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

Poured a cloudy purple color with small head. Aroma was crazy barnyard citrus. Flavor was much like that malts came out as I let it sit. This beer was very different but really good, currants in the flavor as well. Thanks eagle.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 9

Pour was burgundy to purpleish, some haze, thin head that is continually replenished with carbonation, thin though. The aroma was funky barnyard, citrus, currants. The flavor followed, very nice tart touches, highly drinkable and refreshing on this warmer winter night, while watching the Birdies whoop up - hopefully - on the Browns. Could have benefited from some strong malt flavors, but this thing was quite excellent and worth the wait. Actually with warmer temperatures this thing got bolder malty and then at the bottom of the bottle, tons of sedimentation filled out the mouthfeel - with plenty of tingly and stimulating carbonation. Original rating - not scored, read on - Bottle shared by GMCC2181, leaving me enough for a sampling in a recorked (for weeks) bottle. Surprisingly, this held out ok in storage after opening, slight notes of oxidation showing up but in a minor way under a beer that featured a lot more going on. Pour was violet in color, near nil head. The aroma was blackberries, blueberries, slight off funk. Flavor followed, not nearly as tart as I was expecting, somewhere between Lindemans and Cantillon in a pretty nice way. Mouthfeel was pretty full bodied for a lambic, definitely some depth there. Thanks, Gabe!

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

Served lightly chilled, the beer pours into my 25cl tulip glass with an almost three-finger thick, amber tinged, pale tan colored head. The beer is a hazy, cherry red color that shows a bright red color with gold highlights when held up to my desk lamp. The aroma is quite tart and there is a substantial currant note to this beer, though no sweetness; both of these aromas are noticeable as I am visually inspecting the beer. A deeper inspection of the nose yields a lot of funkiness; sweat-dried, musky blankets, musty / moldy hay, barnyard funk and butyric muskiness seem to be the most noticeable part of the nose. Some oak character contributes to the nose as well, though it seems heavily influenced by the Brettanomyces funk; must wood, a hint of buttery oak and perhaps a hint of vanillin are noticeable in the nose.

Tart up front the beer finishes with a tannic, palate coating note that seems to be contributed both by the fruit and some barrel notes. The second sip sees the sourness softening quite a bit, more of the fruit flavor starts to come through as some soft berry-like notes become noticeable. There is a background phenolic note here that suggests hints of nail polish (this also seems to be contributed by the currants somehow). The acidity here is nice, it is predominantly lactic in character but does seem to have a bit of an acetic edge to it that adds some complexity and, in combination with the fruit, hints at red wine vinegar.

This is fairly well carbonated, but somehow the carbonation does not have a big effect on the texture. My second pour of this is a bit chunky as sediment has been stirred up from the bottom of the bottle. This is incredibly quaffable, it is light enough, but still has some velvety texture to it to keep things interesting and to smooth out the sourness. This is not an overly sour example, but still has enough to give me a solid sour fix. Strangely for a 750ml bottle, I feel like this beer disappeared way to fast. The currant impact here is actually fairly soft, I am pretty sure I wouldn't be able to guess the fruit in a bland tasting. In fact, while there is a certain wine influence here, I could almost see mistaking this for a Flemish sour; the touch of acetic and the fruitiness actually are fairly reminiscent of this style. Either way though this is a really nice beer. I had a couple sips of the Framboise at the GABF and was not really impressed, but this definitely has me excited to try all of the Iron Hill Lambic flavors fully.