Abrikoos

The beer was judged as a BJCP category 23F Lambic with fruit: fruit lambic with apricots.

The beer is presented in a stemmed goblet after a full pour: a hazy golden-orange with nary a bubble of foam to be found, despite being assured that it was poured aggressively. Being a sour beer, this is understandable, but still a tad disappointing. A steady stream of outgassing carbonic rises through the column indicating a highly conditioned beverage. The aroma is sharp and stark: a big, bright lactic sourness underlain by very tart and dry stone fruits (apricots, white peaches) and aspirin, with a hint of barnyard/horse blanket Brettanomyces character. Stone fruit pit character is missing. Ripe fruit and sweetness seem entirely absent, either due to young fruit additions and/or prolonged barrel fermentation by fastidious players. While interesting and obviously sour, it seems a little simplistic and overly acidic.

The flavor is very bracing with immediate lactic sharpness with flavors of lemon, grapefruit, white peaches, and a strong aspirin-mineral character trailing to a sour and slightly bitter mid-palate. The beer finishes with tartness and astringency with late flavors of grapefruit peel, lemon and mineral dustiness. This beer is pretty much bone dry, very tart and citric, with a difficult to discern stone fruit. Overall, the beer is bracing in its lactic sourness and not obvious in its fruit pedigree, so I dinged it a bit. If you are attracted to hard lambics, this might be the beer for you. A pairing that comes to mind is a roasted pork butt and jicama – mint slaw with red onion, ancho powder, lime, and salt.