Iron Hill Lambic de Hill

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Beer number one in a killer July 09 Super Secret Sour State Line Tasting (SSSSLT) featuring (first to last by my counts): Supplication, Consecration, La Folie, Dissident, Cuvee de Castleton, Red Poppy, Lambic de Hill, Festina Lente, Panil. This one poured an amber hay color with a modest head that was decent for the style. Aroma was sweet apple cidery with some tart lemon/citrus notes. Faint hay, not a lot of funk going on here. The flavor was sweet apple cider, some sour funk that was light. Oak present but in need of some more. Sweet white grapes and honey come on with warming temperatures, as does the wood. Cherries and lime before it warmed up to room temperature. A nice brew, more complex as I went back. Mouthfeel was moderately bodied with the same amount of carbonation. Thanks, Gabe, for bringing this one!

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Wilmington; total 3.6
7/7/7/8/7
A fairly vigorous pour into my large Tripel Karmeliet glass produces a large bubbled, initially one-finger thick, lightly tanned head. The beer is nice amber color and shows a red tinged, copper color when held up to the light. The aroma smells of lactic acid, spicy oak, a solid woody character, a touch of acetone, a hint of strawberry and a fair amount of hay. After the initial hit of funkiness the entire nose becomes fairly restrained, it doesn't seem to have a whole lot of staying power some how. Perhaps a touch of grassy grain is noticeable just under the other notes that are now muted.

Nicely tart tasting, almost mouth puckering in that first sip. There is a fair amount of sweetness here for a Lambic (much like the Kriek de Hill I had the other day). Lactic acidity up front, mixes with and is somehow accentuated by the sweetness in the middle then, through to the finish, they both morph to bring out a note of acetone. The acetone in the finish morphs a bit and reminds me of strawberries at times; actually there is a persistent lingering fruitiness that sticks to the palate after the beer has left my mouth. The carbonation on this is on the low side, and the body is on the chewy side (a bit of a velvety texture with the extra sugars). After mulling this over a bit, I think the sweetness here is a bit confusing, it tastes a bit like saccharine or some other artificial sweetener and seems to be wrapped up in the lactic acidity; I am actually beginning to question if the perceived sweetness is from residual sugars (almost makes me want to pull out the old hydrometer, but I don't feel like wasting the beer). This "fake" sweetness accentuates some medicinal notes that reminds me of children's aspirin. There is a definite hit of acetic acid here that accentuates the sweetness a fair amount without being too over the top.

My second pour sees a touch of soiled diaper emanating from the aroma, though this seems to disappear pretty quickly; other notes of musty, damp earth, . The oak barrel contributes a light spiciness (especially in the finish), some butterscotch hints, and some vanillin notes that get wrapped up in the sweetness. This most definitely seems like the base beer of the Kriek I had the other night; the sweetness and acidity are exactly the same, it just doesn't have the cherry touches to it. I like this beer more than the individual components might suggest. Somehow there is a weirdness here that keeps me a bit reserved. Ok, I just read the label and according to it I calculate the final gravity on this is about 1.011, which is extremely high for a Lambic and would explain the sweetness (of course this and the media version have the same label so one of them is likely bunk). Interesting, and even tasty, it was quite easy to polish off a 750ml bottle of this on my own.

Media; total 4.0
8/7/9/8/8
A solid pour barely produces a one finger thick, frothy, large bubbled, quickly dissipating head in my large Tripel Karmeliet glass. The beer is a ruddy, amber hue that shows a hazed, copper color when held up to the light. The aroma smells of oak and lactic acid at the first draught of the nose; tannic wood, spicy oak in the finish and a sharp lactic acidity are most noticeable at first. There is an underlying aroma of musty, moldy blankets, a touch of musky animal sweat, and a cured leather spiciness as well as a slight vegetal note, some plastic phenolics. This has a more pronounced character overall, and a nice Brett component that was lacking in the Wilmington version of the Lambic. The nose is not huge for a Lambic, but it is nicely complex and enjoyable.

Sour and mouth puckering as this first hits my tongue, there is also a significant sweetness to this beer starting in the middle and through to the finish. It is significant by Lambic standards, but fairly light for a typical beer. As of now though, this comes off as a bit drier then the Wilmington Lambic de Hill. The lactic sourness is the most dominant note, but it is significantly rounded by the residual sweetness as well as the body of this brew; this seems to have a certain barrel influence in the body that increases the viscousness and texture of this beer with a tannic structure. This finishes with a spicy hit of oak and lactic acidity that tends to dry out the long finish pretty well. The spicy oak almost adds a bourbon reminiscent warming to the finish. This almost has a pithy, grapefruit like flavor to it with the acidity and tannins; this grapefruit note seems to grow as the beer warms up. There is also a touch of aspirin character to the finish.

As this beer warms, unlike the Wilmington version, the sweetness does not become more pronounced, in fact this seems to even get a bit more dry with time. This beer is a much more "Lambic" like example than the other version, though I could still wish for a bit more bracing acidity. Both versions have much more oak character than is typical in a Lambic, but it works quite well here and actually helps to balance out the sweetness to make it just a little bit less noticeable. Both versions have an acetic note to them that is more akin to a Flemish sour, but it is much more pronounced in the Wilmington version (I think this also helps to accentuated the sweetness in that version as well).