Bottle from HoTM I think, shared at the Meldrum Sunday Tasting. It pours clear bright golden orange with a few white bubbles on top. The aroma is so damn musty and funky, old white grape, white currant, twist of lemon, gooseberry, barnyard funk, brett, damp hay, damp oak, sherbet dib dab and some fizzy cola bottles. The taste is firmly dry and oaky upfront, light tannin, hay, bit of leather, waxy lemon rind, pomelo, lime, gooseberry, white grape, vinous, nip of acidity, sherbet, haylage, barnyard, hint of nuttiness, fizzy sour candy, touch of oiliness and some mandarin towards the finish. Dry and oaky at the end. Medium body, limited carbonation and slightly oily mouth feel. Great depth and way more balance than I would expect for a 5 year old lambic. Delightful.

750 ml bottle, shared by Werckmeister, thanks! Deep orange, clear body, with almost no head. Aroma of cheesy funk, wood, lemon, apricot, some apple, some almond, subtle vinegar. Tastes quite similar, with more jammy stone fruits. Medium, slick mouthfeel, with a low carbonation. Finishes smooth, medium dry, wooden, moderate funky, a bit acidic, very fruity, with green apple, stone fruits, citrus, slight almond. Tasty. 8 / 4 / 8 / 4 / 16

Bottle. 2014 edition. Color: Clear golden to amber, no head. Aroma: Funky, hay, fruity, tart. Taste: Pretty funky, barnyard and slightly leathery, musty. Subtle fruity notes of berries. green apple, grapeskin and a little citrus notes, quite some oak wood and tannins. Some grass and straw notes. Light to moderate tart, light bitterness. Dry mouthfeel. Medium body, no carbonation. A little bit more bitterness at the finish. Very nice.

0,75l bottle at home. Vintage 2014/2019. dark yellow hazy color, no head. smells funky, oak, some oxidation notes, sherry, hay, stone fruits. very nice smell. medium body, no carbonation. tastes funky, citric, grassy, earthy, spices, light sweetness, oak, nutty, sherry. finishes bit dry and lightly sour with notes of funk, sherry and nuttiness. very nice one, very good to drink. lovely balance.

Bottle shared at Seth’s - cheers! Pours mostly clear deep gold with a few bubbles on top. Lightly sweet with nice grass, ripe lemon, subtle funk, moist wood. Light to medium bodied with delicate carbonation. Balanced, somewhat quenching finish, more lemon and grass, wood. Nice balance and complexity. Outstanding.

Complex but a bit flat

Bottled old lambic by De Cam, the lambic blender working with wort from Boon, Girardin and Lindemans; in spite of the new label and the lambic being five years old rather than the three years normally used in standard bottled ‘De Cam Oude Lambiek’, I remain unconvinced if this edition deserves its own independent entry here – considering that it is distinguished from the more familiar Oude Lambiek in age only, and to blur things even further, earlier bottlings of regular ‘De Cam Oude Lambiek’ also contained five year old lambic… The distinction between both bottling seems very unclear to say the least, but I will let the admins decide whether to merge this one into the original one or not. Some minute off-white bubbles appear during pouring but there is no head formation – indeed as can be expected from old lambic, and apparently bottle refermentation has remained very limited here; misty warm orange-tinged deep golden robe. Aroma of old cheese crackers, old wood, dry sherry, oxidized crabapples, dusty hayloft, strawbales, grass silage, dried dandelion leaves. Tart, dry, estery onset, sour plum, wild apple and a dash of persimmon, not carbonated; vinous, smooth body, an old bread crust-like malt base buried under effects of very old dry white wine and dry sherry, ‘Bretty’ haystack and cracked leather and old lemon peel effects, with a lactic sourness dominantly running through it all without becoming puckering or truly acidic anywhere. Woodiness and ‘deep’ old hop bitterness accentuate the overall dryness and the old oxidized dry sherry effect comes up quite strongly retronasally. Bone dry, sherryish, noble and layered with all the characteristics one can expect from an old lambic, more ‘sedate’ than most other De Cam offerings and a beautiful lambic in all respects.

EB from last Saturday. Grapefruit, cheese and leather. Very nice!