Tasting Notes So Far
75cl Bottle Vintage 1981 (29 years old) served at home. Well what a treat this was! The bottle was very dusty and covered in cobwebs and certainly had the apperance of something that should not be opened. The cork came out in one piece coupled with a slight hiss that suggested the bottle sitll had some remaining carbonation. The aroma was of cherrys, funk and that lovely woody/smoked smell that I associate with top quality Krieks. There was a musty smell initally due to the age but that soon dissapeared once the bottle had been left to air. Upon pouring there was an inital one finger head of loose bubbles which again suggested carbonation. The liquid was light ruby and had some sediment that slowly made its way down to the bottom ot the glass. Taste; well this is definately a traditional Lambic. With this ammount of age the cherry is still there but it is so mellow its more of a complementing background flavour. There is funk, oak, acidity and just a little hint of remaining must. The palate was thin which is what you should expect with a beer of this age. The light palate was not a downside, infact it added to the overall character of the beer. There was still carbonation there but it would be maybe 1/10th of what this Kriek origionally had. Overall I thought this beer was excellent and had held up much better than I expected. Just wonderful!
75cl Bottle at home vintage 1979. This bottle was from Frank Boon’s third year of kriek production which started in 1976 with a tiny production output of 850 bottles. The 1979 bottles had no label and the corks were wine bottle corks with the year printed on them. The corks are held down by a metal clasp. The cork on this bottle looked to be in a pretty bad way and the bottle had lost 1/6th of its contents over the past 31 years which actually is not that bad. I opened this one with some family and friends and due to the appearance of the cork I was not expecting any carbonation. Well I could not of got it more wrong! I carefully removed the cork and was greeted not with a pop or a hiss but a bang! This coincided with the bottom half of the cork cracking me right between the eyes much to the amusement of my family. The beer after 31 years had lost the majority of it cherry color and looked like a dark gueuze. The bottle also had a huge amount of sediment which led to a very murky appearance. As mentioned earlier there was still plenty of carbonation and quite a persistent head for the age. The aroma was of dark fruits, plums, figs and cherry. The taste had more plums and dark fruits with only a hint of cherry. This was until we got to the bottom of the bottle. The last couple of pours were full of sediment and this is where the cherry was hiding. The general consensus was that this beer had been very carefully stored and everyone agreed that this would of had plenty of life for another 10 years and possibly even longer. Very interesting.
75cl Bottle at home vintage circa 2000. This was one of the bottles sourced by Phil. This was one of the last batches to be made according to the origional Moriau recipie and hence had no label but the traditional dash of red paint on the bottle. Upon opening, the cork came out with no pop or hiss (I had another bottle that was carbonated) suggesting that there was going to be no carbonation. The appearance was a ruby red liquid that that produced no head even with an aggressive pour. The aroma however was fantastic and reminded me and my friend of the base cantillon kriek, plenty of cherry and wood with a bit of funk. The palate was still and somewhat thin in texture. The taste was fantastic and very balanced. This was not an overly sour lambic and again reminded me of the base Cantillon Kriek but without the sour kick and a more subdued level of funk. This was probably due to the age but I still found it to be excellent and still full of character. 75cl Bottle at home vintage 1983. This bottle was sampled after the first and actually had more carbonation but not much more. It differed by having a much less prominent cherry profile and a more golden/light tan apperance. The flavour reminded me of the younger bottle but had developed the port like flavours you should expect from a beer of this age. Still excellent but I preffered the younger version.
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