Oloroso Lambik

This one has even more sherry vibes. Middle

On tap at Moeder Lambic Fontainas - Olambic Games, pours a clear golden, tiny head. Aroma is much gentler than the Amontillado, with soft but more elegant sherry and a touch of musty leather. Flavour is tart, with plenty of softer sherry, musty leather, and gentle acidity. I slightly prefer the Amontillado for its punchiness, but this one is slightly more elegant.

(Draught at Moeder Lambic Original, Brussels, 18 Oct 2024. 6.5%) Dark amber colour with frothy, off-white head. Fruity nose with caramel, funky yeast, barnyard, bread and oak wood. Fruity, tart taste with notes of oak wood, sherry, dried fruit, raisins and barnyard. No bitterness. Medium body, with a touch of sweetness. Really well made and tasty, with a fresh acidity and a good sherry character. Great beer!

Hapu, metalline, mineraalne, tsitrus, šerri. Hea.

Lambic aged in sherry barrels – the unblended, unbottled, ‘raw’ stuff, from tap at Lambik-O-Droom and apparently intended to create a new batch of Zenne y Frontera that is still in the works. Cheers to Bart A.! Off-white, medium thick, quite stable head in spite of this being unblended – probably a head created just by the tap system; clear warm orangey ‘old golden’ robe. Aroma of indeed very strong (medium dry) sherry – more pronounced even than in most Zenne y Frontera variants I had, ripe white grape effect even, less oak wood than in most bottled Zennes but still clear enough, oxidized white wine, unripe mandarin, rosewater, dried grapefruit peel, hint lemon. Dry, ‘malse’ onset like most of the Zenne y Frontera embodiments, purple gooseberry, some sour grape and green apple but all remaining quite soft, with a bittering touch of grapefruit somehow; carbonation all but flat, revealing that this is indeed unblended lambic. Smooth, bit oily, vinous mouthfeel, minerally effects round a softly tart, lactic, bready middle soaked in sherry, with grape skin, vanilla and oxidized white wine elements pushing everything to a higher level of complexity. Ends dry, gently tart, vinous and very sherry-forward in an almost ‘perfumey’ kind of way – if this is indeed going to be used in a bottled Zenne y Frontera variant, than that is a batch I must taste at all cost, because it could well end up among the most sherry-forward batches to date, though I have tasted very young (still unedited) variants before and have experienced that this almost overwhelming sherry effect fades after the bottles reach a certain age. I assume this is going to happen here too when it is finally bottled, in any case I am looking forward to tasting the end result. This whole sherry lambic thing 3 Fonteinen set up in 2015 already never gets old!

750ml bottle at share. Cloudy golden pour, sparse bubbles. Funky, fruity aroma, apple, stone fruit, smoky. Taste is fruity, muted tartness, apricot, smoky, funky, yeasty.

Bottle. Blend no. 96 18/19. Color: Lightly hazy golden, no head. Aroma: Hay, funky, tart, fruity. Taste: Moderate to over moderate tart, hay, funky, fruity grape / Sherry and hints of grapeskin, oak wood. Dry-ish. Medium body, very low carbonation. Very nice, nicely balanced.