Bottle in de Verzekering tegen de Grote Dorst 2024-11-10 Brussels
AR: tart, sour berries, grainy, dry
AP: clear coppery, wee white lid
F: tart, sour berries, grainy, dry

Pours a deep and dark red, with a fairly small pinkwhite head of medium stability (high stability for the style) . Scent is intense, cherry indeed, stems and all. milder lambic funk in the back, but the oak is also fairly prominent here. Full cherry character, reminding of schaarbeekse almost , but without the almond part. Shame I haven't kept one to do these side by side. Taste is sharp, tart, full-on-cherry with a mild lambic funk in the back. Easy acidity, not at all overly intense, even taking a more 'backside' aproach behind the cherry. Mild aroma's from the lambic, and not nearly as oaky as expected. On to the cherry part, than. Very fruity, also not very pronounced on the stems / pits. Not sure what variety they used, but it seems more complex and full than the standard chery used in comparable beers. Easy drinkable due to medium low carbo, and medium low acidity, yet delivers enough aroma to make it worth sipping, too. One of the berrer non schaarbeekse cherries for sure, with a special focuss on balance rather than amazement. Mild vanilla-like finish due to the wood (or cherry, or combo?) . Not bad at all ! Don't remember the pricetag on this one, but if it's priced like a everyday cherrylambic, this has great potential.

15 June 2024. Tasting with Tim & Anke; many thanks to the former for hosting & sharing the bottle!

2021 vintage. Clear golden, very thin, white head. Aroma of white grape, plum, hay, rhubarb, sourdough, sweat. Taste has sour plum, grape & gooseberry, funky hay, soft lactic acid, wrapped in a sourdough-malty body. Tart finish of soft grape tannins, yellow fruits and earthy rhubarb. Medium body, slick texture, average carbonation. Easy-going and refreshing, but lacking some real depth.

Among all the fruit lambics in existence today, with all the experiments done by both established lambic producers and new blenders, citrus fruits are still very much underexposed - one could wonder why, as both a mandarin lambic by Tilquin and a lemon lambic by hobby blender Pomphuizeke were actually pleasantly surprising. Now Kestemont turns to blood orange in this newish product - enough to spark my curiosity. Cork under very high pressure, releasing the muselet was enough to make it come up and had I not put my thumb on it, it may have popped out and hit the ceiling... No gushing though. A very thick, foamy head is formed, however, egg-white, pillowy, very loudly crackling and sustained by a tornado of dense, cava-like carbonation rushing and whirling through the glass, quite a spectacular sight; initially crystal clear, warm yellow golden robe, misty and more orangey-peachy further on, with tiny bits of blood orange floating around near the bottom. Musty but intriguing aroma of dried orange peel but also something very strongly floor polish- and furniture wax-like, actual oak furniture, old dried fenugreek leaf (very pronounced, oddly), dry matcha tea, raw quince, unripe gooseberries, dry haystack, dusty attic, very old dry white wine, sweaty socks in the background - in all, far less brightly citrusy than I was expecting. Lively fruity onset though, tart in a more 'malse' way than I thought, with indeed recognisable blood orange (much more so than in the nose), yet not overly dominant and interwoven with impressions of oxidized apple slices, yellow plum and whitecurrant, with an active effervescence piercing through, bubbling on the tongue. Smooth, slender wheaty core under ongoing tart fruitiness and fruity lactic acidity, remaining quite 'fresh' and bright, again more so than I was expecting based on orthonasal observations; the blood orange adds a sour citrusiness but also a certain degree of juicy sweetness and, especially towards the end, a spicy bitterish element, pairing well with woody tannins and a subtle hint at old hops, tucked away at the back. Its crisp, sour-sweet, oily citrusiness remains the key element, though, contrasting a bit with the retronasal return of that weird floor polish or brown soap effect and the herbal element which reminds me the most of dried fenugreek. I have not been equally impressed by all of Kestemont's offerings so far, some were even downright underwhelming, but this is admittedly a very entertaining one, in spite of those bizarre wax- and soap-like elements; in pure flavour, it is even a very tasty lambic - and to me, even proof that citrus in lambic can work, producing very distinct effects that set the very few citrus lambics made so far clearly apart from anything else. Better than expected, but one for the more adventurous lambic lover I think, and I can certainly understand the mixed reactions it gets. For me personally: potentially Kestemont's most interesting offering so far.

Poured from a 375 ml bottle from Lot 20220729. Aroma is fruit forward with really nice cherry and berry notes, though it's a bit difficult to pick out the individual notes from each fruit. Hints of earthy funk, grain and alcohol. Pours a slightly hazy, purplish red color with a small, thin, white head that recedes quickly and disappears. No lacing and faint legs. Flavor is slightly acidic with a medium light sweetness and hints soft grain. Low bitterness and light alcohol notes. Fairly strong fruit notes with a nice balanced blend of cherry and berry. Hints of earthy funk. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with low to no carbonation. Low astringency and low alcohol warmth. Overall, a fine beer but it doesn't have much lambic character hiding under the fruit. Very fruit forward, but the lack of acidity is nice. Could have fermented out a bit more and added some funkiness.

@ BXL Beer Fest. Hazy amber colour, thin layer of foam. Nose of citrus, wood, lemony with grainy notes. Not bad.

@ BXL Beerfest. 5 years old Hazy copper colour, no foam. Flat lambic with notes of wood, lemon and also paint thinner and varnish. A bit dusty and unbalanced.

Draught at Khyber: pours orange with a small head. Light funkiness, basement, sweet fruitiness. Taste is sourish, sweetish. Fine. Mediocre lambic.