Lemon, sour, fruity, papery

Sweet, sour, cherry, mellow

Hapu kirsine mahe

Hapukas kuiv tsitrus.

Sweet, sour, woody, tannins, dry, leather

White rhubarb, sour, acidic, fruity

Hapu rabarber. Flät.

Sour, brett, woody, yeasty, must

Hapu, vesine, lihtne

Yet another one in this inexhaustible stream of flavoured unblended lambics by Oud Beersel – some of which are ‘upgraded’ to bottled form in the Sparkling Infused series – this time using tailed pepper or ‘cubeb’, an Indonesian pepper species related to ordinary pepper but more aromatic, and used as a flavouring agent in gin and even cigarettes apparently. Far-fetched it seems, and I frankly never tasted or even saw actual cubeb, but given the aromatic qualities and the success of Cantillon’s black pepper Zwanze last year, this could actually turn out really well… Medium thick but open and dissipating, snow white head leaving a thin rim over a misty peach blonde robe with ochre-ish tinge. Aroma very herbal and peppery but not just pepper – indeed quite allspice-, somewhat cypress- and Szechuan pepper-like, blending in seamlessly with impressions of lemon thyme, fresh lemonbalm, lime zest, old oak wood, sourdough, dry leather, persimmon. Tart onset in a lime-like, fruity way, hints of green gooseberries, rhubarb and unripe apricots, softly carbonated so clearly refermented a bit; smooth bread-crusty core under strong lime-like lactic sourness, refreshed by the cubeb effect retronasally, adding these lemon thyme- and allspice-like ethereal elements, along with hints of dry old leather, green olives, persimmon and lemon zest. Tannic woodiness of course too, but not very astringently so – the whole remaining very supple, refreshing, aromatic and colourful, truly bringing that mysterious cubeb to the foreground and blending it perfectly with the lambic features. In that sense quite a refined lambic, in fact, and one that I would not mind seeing appear in Sparkling Infused bottled form.