7

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7

Poured from a 750 ml, Oogst 2022 bottle. Aroma is fairly apple forward with some lighter honey notes. Hints of lemon and green grapes. Faint oak and light alcohol notes. A bit of grain character. Pours a fairly clear, golden color with a small, thin, white head that recedes quickly and disappears. No lacing and faint legs. Flavor is somewhat acidic with a light sweetness and hints of grain. Medium low bitterness and light alcohol notes. Moderate notes of cider with lighter honey notes. A bit of green grapes and lemon. Faint earthy herbal funk. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with high carbonation. Low astringency and low alcohol warmth. Overall, a weird beer. The cider comes through too strong and dries the beer out but the honey leaves some weird sweetness at the same time. The lambic character is fairly light and doesn't punch through the cider and mead. Not much funkiness. The dryness accentuates the acidity and bitterness which doesn't work.

8

Prima cider

8.1

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

2021 bottle, 750mL, at Ma Che, 5/13/24. Mostly clear, blonde-golden. Small wisp of head. Incredibly even, mild, mellow stuff but alluring with fruit and gentle Brett. Even some wheat or malt here to soften and enrich things. In the mouth it's very Belgian, though with a good, mellow, malo-lactic cider character and just a kiss of honey on the finish. So mellow and flavorful and balanced.

7.8

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

Arguably the most far-fetched of Boerenerf's crossblends between different types of fermented beverages, this Symbiose combines lambic, cider and mead into one whole. I enjoyed the 2021 version already before but this is the 'harvest 2022' version, coming from a 75 cl bottle with cork and crown cap. Loudly fizzing, egg-white, very moussey, champagne-like head, quickly breaking in the middle but retaining for a while around the edge due to a spectacular 'storm' of fierce 'champenoise' sparkling rushing through a yellow blonde robe with vaguely greenish tinge, turning cloudy and egg-yolk-coloured in the end. Complex aroma in which all three components are clearly recognisable, though the mead is less obvious than the lambic and the cider; impressions of green apples, prosecco, sour grapes, lime, butter, unripe pear, quite a bit of funk - old leather, dusty haystack, raw mushroom - but then this cheerful, bright fruitiness takes over again, eventually also adding faint hints of toasted sunflower seeds, cobwebbed attic, pineapple, dried field flowers. Utterly vivid and spritzy in the mouth, in between a geuze and a sparkling dry cider with that mead sweetness and floweriness piercing through, very fruity with obvious apple flavours but also pear, gooseberry, kiwi and white grape, very vividly carbonated like a glass of champagne, with a pleasant and refreshing underlying minerality. Light-bodied core, some lambic breadiness for sure, apple core and slightly buttery effects filling the rest, with mild tannic woodiness in the end - but more drying, even somewhat astringent tannins from the apples in the cider; all the while, a pleasantly 'malse' (soft) tartness prevails, but mitigated by this mellowing mead sweetishness, even if there are still lemony edges here and there keeping things edgy and exciting. Tart, flowery, very fruity and very vinous finish, where an effect of sparkling Riesling lingers - but the overtones of apple remind you that it was not wine, but cider that went in here. The end phase is dominated mostly by cider and far less by either lambic or mead - oddly, since I was expecting the lambic to be more prevalent even at that stage. Most importantly though, the three components have indeed truly merged into a beautifully vinous, cheerfully fruity entity here, even more so than in the previous edition, which in comparison was a bit more astringent, a bit less full-bodied and a tad more sharply sour. If lambic, cider and mead must meet each other at all, well, then their encounter here is a very happy, lively and enthusiastic one - it is not just the carbonation that sparkles here, every aspect of this drink sparkles. Fascinating.

7.5

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

Bottle sample at a tasting at Yoav's place. Cloudy yellow. Barnyard, fruitiness, citrus, some apples, manure, a bit floral, oak, sour, slightly vinous.

7.8

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

Bottle. Bit hazy yellow. Funky lambic, soft oak, honey, floral. Medium sweet and a bit less sour and bitter. Medium bodied with sparkly carbonation. I like it a bit more than the one from last year.

7.4

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

Clear pale gold appearance with almost no head. Aroma has some warm apple skins and honey. Something woody and earthy too. Fine carbonation. Sweet and sour apple with soft homey sweetness in the aftertaste.

8

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

Bottle, oogst 2022. First time I taste a mix of Lambic, Cider and Mead. Curious. Why did no-one else did this before? (As far as I know) Color: Hazy pale golden, white head. Aroma: Mix of tart, sweet and fruity notes. Stable- like funk. Taste: Sweet (honey) and tart (citrus) notes mixing together, accompanied by fruity notes of apple, rural and horse stable funk notes and notes of oak wood. Medium body. Below average carbonation. Moderate sweet and tart. Very light bitterness. Dry-ish (tannins) finish. So... Final verdict. Definitely interesting. I love the fact that this relatively new farm makes their own Cider, Mead and Lambic and experiments with these kind of blends.Very drinkable but I think in this case less blending would do more justice to the drinks themself. Despite of that still a good rating. Boerenerf rules, i love their funkiness...

6.2

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5

Sample from the bottle at Station12, Antwerpen. Color is clear golden with very small white head. Aromas and flavors: Fruits, Apples, some sweetness, honey, mixed feelings