St. Louis Premium Cassis

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

Bottled (from thebelgianbeershop.com). Deep red colour with some blueish hints, pink mediumsized head. Aroma is black currant, actually quite sour stuff. Flavour is black currant with some fruity and sappy notes. Something between sweet and sour. A nice and drinkable brew.

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

June 2007 Bottle Date; Sampled September 2008
An average pour into my 25cl tulip glass produces a two-finger thick, dirty, purple stained, cream colored head. The beer is quite dark and is a deep concentrated, purple color that shows a brilliantly clear, ruby hue when held up to the light. The aroma smells of currant and concord grape jam as well as a green, almost woody sort of grape stem like thing. There is also an aromatic note that reminds me of children's aspirin, plus there is something towards the finish that makes me think of a musty, damp cave.

The first sip is surprisingly tart, before it becomes sweet. The sweetness becomes more dominant than the tartness, but at least there is some sour character here to help offset the sweetness. Fruit flavors of concord grapes, cassis liquor, bitter-sour lemons towards the finish, some grape stem sort of thing again and a slight medicinal note are all noticeable. This has a bit of heft to it from the light sweetness, but still remains fairly drinkable, there is also a tannic heft to it and a lingering tannic astringency that sticks to the teeth and palate towards the finish.

While not a traditional interpretation of the style, there is at least a funky, sour base beer here that helps add a lot of complexity underneath the lightly sweet fruitiness. I am certainly enjoying this a bit more than I might normally because of the lame "spontaneously fermented" beer I had just before this.

Purchased: Papago Brewing, Scottsdale AZ

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 4 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 4 | Overall: 4

Picked up at Booze Bros., while on a recent trip to Reno, NV. I've had their other fruit lambics, but haven't ever seen this one so since I enjoyed the other lambics, I figured I'd try this one too.

I really wasn't sure what to expect with this one. A beautiful bottle, purple foil, very inviting. The beer pours out a deep purple color with a light purple two-finger head. It really did have some remarkable characteristics of a grape soda. An aroma that was somewhat off-putting. Yes, it had the obvious sweet smelling, fruity grape/blueberry/black currant nose, but under that was something that reminded me of smelling canned green beans. It sort of came and went as I drank down the contents of my glass, but it was there and unpleasant for sure. Mouthfeel a bit on the sticky side, but still smooth enough to enjoy. Flavors had me confused. There was some funky notes hidden underneath the soda-pop like sweetness (not nearly as sweet as their peche or framboise) with huge grape/blueberry/black currant notes. But it's also a bit sour, a touch lactic and acidic but mostly it's the over the top sweetness that's all is there. It didn't have any of the refreshing offerings the previously mentioned two did. This was a bit of a chore to consume. I'll pass next time.