Upland Peach Lambic

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

Really good balance of sweet fruity peaches and mildly acidic and sour lambic base. Beautiful cloudy apricot colored body with a lasting white foamy head and thick lacing. Sweet and sour in near perfect harmony with a light refreshing feel.

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

Sampled in my glass, Great Taste Pre-Party night. A super nice brew that pours a dull orange colour. Nice creamy froth, aroma is vibrant and fresh. Taste is a little more mellow than anticipated. Pleasent however, fruity and tropical.

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

A careful pour produces no real head and yet still shows no bubbles trying to rise through this beer. The beer is a hazy, gold-tinged, light amber hue that does show a nice orange tint to it when held up to the light. Up front the aroma smells of fruit, through the middle is smells tart and the finish has a toasty oak note to it that accentuates a fruitiness with some coconut-like notes. Interesting, the more I smell this the more confused I get about what is oak and what is fruit; I do know that there is a significant coconut aroma to this beer. There is also some spicy oak like notes that seem to accentuate an almost Bourbon like alcohol warming. Other than light sourness in the nose, the aroma is very sparse on any funky notes that one would find in a traditional Lambic. As the beer warms a touch of aromatic peach skin character starts to become noticeable towards the finish; almost more flower-like than fruit like, but it does seem to finally take on some peach-derived aromas. The oak definitely seems to be the major contributor to the nose, and it is nicely done, but I would have love to have seen more peach character and some barnyard funk.

Only lightly tart, quite mellow actually though it does have a touch of lactic sourness. The coconut note is quite noticeable in the flavor as well. Maybe a tickle of carbonation is here but by almost any measure this is a flat beer. Some carbonation would certainly have provided a lot of nice texture to this beer, it does not quite come off as watery though and does have a touch of heft to it. Peach flavors are not overtly apparent here, the coconut note certainly is wrapped up in and accentuates a fruitiness here. This has a definite nuttiness to it (that most often leans towards coconut) that makes me wonder if some of it might be influenced by the peach character. This is quite dry , with no perceived sweetness.

Definitely a bit of a disappointment, this is not bad though, it just could be so much more. The lack of sourness, much less bracing acidity, one expects in a Lambic is a glaring hole, and there isn't even any barnyard funkiness to up the complexity here. The lack of carbonation hurts a bit more, but would not really have been an issue if the other Lambic characteristics had been captured. Actually because of the lack of sourness and funk, the carbonation issue becomes all that much more of a problem.