Bottle - pours orange gold with fizzy white head - nose and taste of nectarine zest, florals, citrus zest, lemon peel, oak and bright mineral funk - medium body

Bottle shared at home. Bright clear dark amber with no head. Bright funk, dead leaves, soft caramel, dank cellar notes, a bit of sweet grapes too 🍇, dried apricot, mineral notes, gooseberries, elderberries, soft oak. Just medium sour, light sweet and bitter. Solid medium bodied with soft spritzy carbonation. Pretty damn nice, even though I don’t get much grape here.

Bottle in Ye Olde Meldrum. It pours lightly hazy rose with a fluffy white head. The aroma is sweet - sour, juicy, tart, bright grape character, jammy, Welch's grape juice, sour candy, funky, musty, dirty, light manure and sherbet. The taste is crisp, dry, tart, bright, juicy black grape, sherbet, sour candy, musty, funky, brett, sour candy, good mouth pucker, light acidity, woo and a touch of oiliness. Medium body and fine carbonation. Bright, fruity, puckering and funky. Tastee.

Very good, sweaty and fruity funk

OWA has been creating new lambic variants more frequently than before it seems - no doubt mr. Imai got wind of the lambic revival and presents us with one fascinating Japan-themed lambic after another. This is one of the latest, bottled last month in 37.5 cl 'geuze' bottles with (synthetic) cork, crown cap and the familiar paper 'flower' around the bottle neck, this time orange coloured, as the special ingredient here is satsuma: a citrus fruit closely related to tangerine. Satsuma originates from China but reached North America in the 18th century via Japan, where it is called 'mikan', hence the name of the beer; it became particularly popular in the southern States, to the extent that a few towns were even named after it. Egg-white, moussy head, nice and frothy at first (with some light forcing) but thinning quickly and eventually reduced to a thin but stable ring and a few flat islands in the middle, over a hazy, pale orange-tinged 'old gold' beer with fine strings of lively sparkling here and there. Aroma of sawdust and dusty old cupboards (as is often prevalent in these OWA lambics), dried orange peel or indeed something mandarin peel-like - including the citric oil - clearly representing the satsuma / mikan, orange vinegar, poppy seed, dry hay, sandpaper, a whiff of rotten cucumber which fades quickly, dry natural white wine, deep-fried potato, dry earth. Dry, sour onset, sharp lemony edge and therefore a bit puckering but still not too much so, unripe green berry and stonefruit peel wryness with an astringent, lipsmacking effect but thanks to the added citrus factor, everything remains supple, refreshing and graceful. White bread crust-like backbone dried by the sourness; ending dry, 'dusty' and at the same time brightly refreshing, a bit astringent as well but in a good way, with lovely earthy, hayish and 'funky' Bretty notes which I assume can become more pronounced with age. The mikan element keeps brightening things up till the very last sip, but also adds an oily wryness akin to the white underside and oil glands of any citrus peel. Unique and different like all of these OWA lambics, probably matches very well with white fish or shellfish (I'm planning on preparing Asian-themed mussels with this - note that culinary associations are an important part of mr. Iwai's work) and even in its quirkiness, this is a beautifully gracious and refreshing beverage, a De Troch lambic the way De Troch should have been making them themselves all those years instead of concentrating on that Chapeau brand - but that's another story.

Bottle at home shared from ze Maakun. Big thanks 🙏. Unclear golden with white head. Massive funk, parmezan cheesy funky AF, grape most, tangerine peels, grapefruit, dried apricot, nutmeg. Very dry and very funky. Light sweet, fierce bitter and dry, massive funky and sweaty salty. This is definitely rubbin my nipple. 🔴👈 Amazing taste. Current association is a more fruity 3fonteinen OGV and A&G blend. Totally loving this. Nice surprise.