8

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Bottle shared. Almost clear golden with white head. Crisp bright mineral funk with soft sulphur. Lime rind, soft lemon, oak, apricot skin. I have no idea how Japanese apple tastes, but this doesn't have much if anything I recognize as apple. Light flowery and more dry mineral funk. Almost medium sour, light sweet and bitter. Crisp medium bodied with soft fizzy carbonation. I don't get much fruit, but it's a tasty lambic.

8.3

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8.5 | Flavor - 8.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Bottle at home, thanks to Maakun! Near clear golden with small white head. Sour grains, massive lime, soft basil, citroenmelisse, general herbal touch, hint of apple & cinnamon, mint. Mild sour, very (lemony) fruity. Medium body and soft carbonation.

6

Kurde, owa sa nijakie w chuj gdzie jakas dzikosc? Gdzie chocby te jablka? Nie no, zwietrzale takie

7.6

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5

Bottle - pours orange white head - nose/taste of sweet apple, cheesecloth, oak, lemon, light brown sugar - medium bodied

7.6

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5

One in a series of four new OWA lambics centered around Japanese themes, this one with apples, probably the well-known Fuji variety, originating from Japan and still grown in Japan, primarily Nagano prefecture. Thin, mousy, eggshell-white head, open in the middle apart from an irregular, wafer-thin pattern of foam, yet retaining as a ring around the edge, on a misty, deep and warm golden apricot blonde beer with somewhat coarse, but lively carbonation sustaining the head. Very fruity aroma containing a lot of shiny, hard, green apples in a very 'real', non-estery way, homemade apple juice, apple core, dry apple cider and apple peel beginning to oxidize, forming a thick layer on top of more typical De Troch lambic features including dry hay, old books, dusty old jute bags, urine-like Brett effects, fermenting plums, sour berries, dried bitter herbs, 'fleshy' proteins (cooked chicken-like almost). Lively fruity onset, strangely a tad less prominently apple-like than I was expecting based on the very convincing apple character in the nose yet still featuring clear sweet-and-sour, pink-and-green apples, next to sour lime and somewhat wry unripe plum and gooseberry, relatively softly carbonated (softer than expected based on looks), with this multi-dimensional, astringent yet not harshly puckering sourness drying the core to the bone - some yoghurty lactic acidity, some lemony sharpness, but even more expressly, that typically 'green', hard astringent sourness of biting in a green apple, with the bitterness of apple peel lingering - yet some of the sweetness of red apple is also present, in a much more subtle and volatile way. A certain fleshiness, probably also related to the apples, builds up in the end, vaguely tofu-like almost, with more and more 'dry farmland' funkiness of the lambic coming up, reminiscent of fermenting hay, grass silage and dusty attic accompanied by a dash of Bretty horseblanket. Ends refreshingly sour, like indeed an apple - but embedded in lambic earthiness and dryness, with a dried herb-like, deeply situated, lingering hop bitter note all the way at the back; the fleshiness, almost protein-like at this stage, adds some richness and body. Apart from a few (heavily) sweetened examples, such as Lindemans Apple, I do not recall having encountered any apple lambics so far and I have long wondered why; this OWA example shows that it works, even if the astringent effect of the lambic's own tartness amplified by the apples' natural wryness may perhaps be a bit unpleasant to some. Not a very accessible lambic, not the most 'deep' or complex one either, but, as usual in this OWA series, very unique and surprising, with the apples fitted cleverly into the lambic - and featuring very prominently in the nose. A curious one, and I'm sure the three others will be just as curious...