Monday, November 28, 2011

BEER: MIKKELLER Spontangrape



A new range of offerings from Danish gypsy-brewer-extraordinaire Mikkeller has hit the shelves. After a somewhat lacklustre ris a la m’ale, I head into the range of 7 “spontan-“ lambics that have arrived.

An interesting move, with lambics being one of the few styles left that Mikkeller hasn’t had a shot at. Until now, I guess.


A large, airy head on the pour, which quickly dissipates.

Smells like your average limbic, really. Slightly sour and funky, with a little grape.

Light on the carbonation. Just enough to push it along. Which is good, I find you don’t want a lot of bubbles in a lambic.

Reminds me a lot of a Cantillon in the balance of the funk and the sour. It’s not at the extreme end of the scale, but it’s definitely no shrinking, funky violet. You get the grape but it comes across slightly muddled and more like artificial green grapes. Grape aside, it’s a really tasty funk going on.

The 7.7% abv really helps the flavours fill out the mouth.

Finish has good length, as you’d expect from a sour beer that will pucker you up for days.

83%

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