Prima cider

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.

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.