IDA (I Dream of Apricots)
Gadds' The Ramsgate Brewery in Broadstairs, Kent, England 🏴
Sour / Wild Beer Regular|
Score
6.38
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Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
From Bottle @ Carnivale Brettanomyces 2016. Golden color. Hint of apricot in the aroma. Bretty tart flavor with hints of apricot. Totally dry. Good beer!
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 4.5
Apricot beer by Ramsgate, 75 cl bottle with crown cap, bought at Gedeelde Vreugde. Apparently a wheat beer with added Lactobacillus and apricots, the latter probably responsible for the presence of Brettanomyces claussenii as well... Opens with a hiss but no gushing. Thick but coarse and irregular, snow white, very intricately and irregularly cobweb-lacing, thinning head over initially clear, warm pale orangey 'old gold' beer with lively sparkling sustaining the head, shifting to a gentle mistiness with the sediment added. Not very expressive and primarily straightforwardly malty aroma, very lager-like with notes of warm toast and rusk, very restrained dried apricot, butter, kitchen towel, vague butterscotch, cold Chinese chrysanthemum tea, freshly baked unsalted crackers, warm croissants with sesame seeds, very faint leathery Brett touch, unripe apples, straw, jute rope. Clean and straightforward, in fact even fairly neutral onset, apricots are only noticeable as a very vague background fruitiness, unripe pear note, minerally aspects yet still relatively soft carbonation; lactic sourness is totally absent, weirdly (and unfortunately). A malty middle phase ensues, reminiscent of bread crust and toast, more bitterish than sweet, thinly cracker-like and lacking a bit in body even at this modest ABV; the toasty bitterness is reinforced in the end by a floral, grassy, bit herbal hoppiness, again that somewhat wry effect of cold Chinese flower tea, oily and softly spicy, lingering alongside what I presume is a vague astringency of apricot kernels - but again any true apricot flavour remains all but absent. Ends notably dry, crusty-malty and a tad astringently bitter, with powdery effect. Oh my, this is disappointing... Apart from Wild Beer, I rarely had a truly successful English sour, but this is not even sour at all, whatever happened to the lactic bacteria that are supposed to have been added? I guess they were simply forgotten in this bottle... Making things worse, the apricot effect is also hardly noticeable, apart from their kernels' tannic astringency blending with the hops and a very vaguely fruity touch in the onset; I assume the Brett has eaten it completely by now, but almost forgot to produce its familiar wild yeast effects that could have made this beer all the more interesting, though a very faint background presence of Brett is noticeable. In all, this beer almost feels like a kind of atypical amber ale, ironically lacking in fruitiness and showing little flavor development from onset to finish, remaining straightforwardly toasty-malty and blatantly forgetting to add exactly the two aspects that the label claims are inside the bottle. This is not a sour ale for the plain and simple reason that it does not taste any more sour than your average industrial lager, and neither is it a true fruit beer for near-lack of apricot flavors. This brewery has made a few very decent ales, but this one is a complete failure (if drinkable enough in itself) by claiming things it does not even deliver in an insufficient manner: it does not even seem to attempt to deliver them at all. I have rarely encountered a beer less true to intended style than this one, and that is including all those would-be IPAs we see nowadays in Belgium... Weird, too astringent in the finish to be fully enjoyable, lacking in persuasive aromas, flavors and body, this is a big let-down, even if my expectations for this brewery producing a decent sour fruit ale were low enough to begin with. If this is a sour, then it is the worst sour ever, this is as much a sour ale as Stella Artois is a barleywine, but since I did manage to empty the bottle - albeit with far less enjoyment than I was hoping for - I'll grant it a +2.5/5 score regardless for the effort (even in spite of the extremely lazy label). I am, after all, in a generous mood today for rating beers, it seems.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Bottle 750ml. @ [ chriso & Boudicca's pre- GBBF Shindig 2016 ] - Chris and Ruth's House, London. [ As Gadds IDA (I Dream of Apricots) ].Clear medium orange yellow colour with a small to average, frothy - fizzy, fair lacing, mostly diminishing, off-white head. Aroma is moderate malty, pale malt, apricot, old fruit. Flavor is moderate sweet with a average duration, old fruit, apricot notes, brett notes. Body is medium, texture is oily to watery, carbonation is soft to flat. [20160806] 6-3-6-3-12
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5.5
Bottle shared at JK Ldn tasting. It pours lightly hazy golden with a small white head. The aroma is earthy, must, funk, muted notes of apricot/peach/nectarine and straw. The taste is crisp, earthy, wood, straw, dirty and subdued stone fruits (including apricot). The finish is dry and earthy. Not very much apricot! I wish this was a lot more bright. A touch dissapointing.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6
Bottle split at the JK beasting, thanks to Bropey, 04/10/16. Very lightly Hazed golden with a decent off White head. Nose is dried apricot, old fruit loaf, spice, soiled ladies knickers. Taste comprises light pissy citrics, apricot tang, funk, damp hay. Medium bodied, fine carbonation, semi drying close. Ok simple sour.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6
6th August 2016
The great ChrisO pre GBBF gathering. Light haze on this gold beer, thin pale cream colour head. Palate is light and semi dry, reasonable fine carbonation. Mild sourness and mild floral apricot. Pinch of spice. Bitterish finish. Not that sour and not a huge amount of fruit punch.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
Bottle @ Chriso pre-GBBF Shindig 2016. Pours a hazy yellow golden color with a small white head. Has a fruity malty weak spicy apricot aroma. Fruity malty weak bretty apricot flavor. Has a fruity malty weak bretty apricot finish.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
Bottle shared at the pre GBBF chriso’s tasting day 1 06/08/2016. Thanks to Ian. A light hazed golden coloured pour with a thin white head. Aroma is raw grains, green berry, grassy, pinch of funky sour. Flavour is composed of light grains, tangy funk, mineral, brambles, grassy hop. Tangy finish. Palate is light, slightly thin, highish carbonation. Ok.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
Bottle shared at the chriso and Ruth pre GBBF Shindig 2016 - London. Day 1. Pours clear yellow with a frothy, white head. The nose holds lemon zest, pith, wheat flakes. Light sweet flavour with some peach, meringue, floral perfume, straw. Light bodied with average carbonation. Moderately clean on the finish, with more citrus accents, dried wheat. Drinkable gear.