Toon van den Broek, the amiable and modest man behind this fascinating Groningen 'lambic' project, has been elaborating on this theme for quite a while now, with interesting things popping up every now and then - such as this Brut Olasz, a blend of old Van den Broek 'lambic' with Olaszrissling most - Olaszrissling being a central and eastern European grape variety, most notably used in Hungarian yellow coloured wines. Geuze bottle (37.5 cl) with cork and crown cap, the cork coming out with a loud 'pop', but there's no gushing. Eggshell-white, mousy and quite dense, medium thick head, gradually breaking but initially retaining relatively well around the edge and as a white 'ragged carpet' in the middle, even if in the end, both the ring and the carpet are all but gone; hazy apricot blonde robe with straw-ochre tinge. Aroma of unripe sour grapes but also sweet white wine (not Riesling-like though, and indeed Olazsrissling has little to nothing to do with Riesling grapes in spite of its name), wild apples, yellow plums, old lemons, grapeseed oil, freshly cut sorrel, damp hay, minerals (similar as in many white wines), damp earth, hints of old abbey cheese, musty cellar, moist black pepper, a very volatile whiff of manure and a very, very vague phenolic minty touch faraway in the background. Crisp, sour onset, lemony with a sharp and puckering edge enhanced by a sour grape effect yet with some soft fructose 'grapeyness' (dessert wine-like almost) to absorb part of this acidity and thus bring things to good balance; lots of estery notes of crabapple, unripe pineapple and green gooseberries too, in a mildly fizzy environment, the carbonation remaining of a lambrusco-like nature and adding only subtle minerality. Soft and supple backbone, thinly cereally and bready, dried by the acidity of both the lambic and the most but also by increasingly prominent grape skin wryness, bearing subtle similarities with the astringency of biting in a hard green apple. Earthy and funky notes in the end but gently so, with the Olaszrissling most seemingly becoming more powerful than the lambic, though it must be stated that both parts are very tighly intertwined here and difficult to separate from one another. Indeed, the 'spontaneous fermenters' (wild yeast and bacteria) have slowly managed to tie the lambic wort and the wine most together in a very intimate way, which is where the true beauty of a product like this lies. Drying wood tannins add character and depth, with a pleasantly powdery bready yeastiness trailing behind; grape skin tannins seem even more prominent and cling to the root of the tongue along with the lactic tartness and dry mustiness of the lambic. It turned out to be a great idea to ferment lambic and most together: this is truly a perfect hybrid of spontaneously fermented beer and natural wine. Wry, sour and tart, but at the same time elegant, gentle and fruity: this is the best Van den Broek product I have encountered so far. This man's output remains hugely exciting, I cannot wait to sample more of his lambic variants.

29/XI/19 - 37.5cl bottle @ post-Billie's tasting (77ships’ place), BB: n/a, bottled: VI/2019 - (2019-2023) Huge thanks to 77ships for sharing this special bottle!

Clear orange blond beer, practically no head. Aroma: fruity, little funky, nice brett notes, love it! MF: soft carbon, medium body. Taste: very nice, good acidic start, bit metallic, some yellow stone fruit, nice acidity, bit minty, herbal. Aftertaste: dry, sourish, bit fruity, soft acidity,