Upland Raspberry Lambic

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

Pours translucent raspberry with a minimal eggshell head. Aroma presents sweet and yart raspberry. Flavor is all raspberry, sweet and tart, tasty - but where are beer flavors? Texture offers good body, nice fizz, and a raspberry finish. Bbbbbbbbbbb!

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

Finally opened this bottle from the 2008 batch that was gifted to me randomly at the Flossmoor Station meet up during Dark Lord Day '11 weekend. Shared among a couple friends it was great bottle to kick off our tasting with while the sun was still shining. A strong aroma of tart fermented raspberries immediately filled the air. I got the 1st pour which was vibrantly clear, however the subsequent pours became murkier. Light and very tart, dry finish. Wonderful flavors of wild yeasts, funky tartness, thick raspberries and dry wheat. Very solid attempt by the boys in Indiana. A great lambic style from the states.

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

2008 Release; Sampled December 2008
You would be hard pressed to find a beer that made less sound when popping the cork / cap on it.. Thankfully the beer has a light carbonation to it that musters up some frothy, pale, off-whit colored froth that almost covers the beer. The beer is a red / dark pink tinged, light amber color that shows a fairly clear, almost red-copper color when held up to the light. The aroma has quite a strong note of macerated, fermenting raspberries (it doesn’t quite retain the piquancy of fresh raspberries but is close). It is hard to smell anything but the raspberries in the nose; perhaps a hint of dusty malt, but I almost think I am imagining this. Wow the nose is profoundly boring, though not bad if you like raspberries.

Fairly dry tasting up front and there is a nice, though slight, lactic bite to this beer that is noticeable throughout the flavor profile. The raspberry flavors are much reduced from what the aroma was (thank god) and there is actually a couple of other things noticeable besides raspberry notes. The raspberry flavors here seem more an infusion from the aroma than an actual raspberry flavor; it lightly stains the flavor profile with a raspberry seed astringency, a light raspberry flesh fruitiness and a touch of tannic raspberry skin character. Some oak barrel flavors lightly add to the character to, with notes of spicy, tannic oak and a soft boost to the body / texture of this beer. Exceedingly quaffable, the light sourness, coupled with the fairly light body make this quite easy to drink; I could imagine this being quite refreshing on a hot summer’s day. This could definitely use more carbonation though as it only has a light carbonation.

Well this being my last one of these from this years release that I will get to try (send me a Kiwi please), I have to say that I am really starting to miss the funkiness and biting acidity of a real Lambic. These start to get a bit bland after a while, though they are certainly valiant attempts. In particular the super aromatic notes of the raspberry is just to powerful for this beer to remotely stand up to, so the nose is all raspberry. My particular, general apathy towards raspberry beers makes this one a bit less enjoyable than the other Upland Lambics, but it is certainly on the same level as the others.

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

A reddish pink appearance with a large head. The aroma is rather funky with raspberries and vinegar. The flavor is quite sour with some raspberries, lemons, and vinegar. The mouthfeel is rather carbonated. Overall this was a good one!