Spontankriek - Mikkeller ApS

DavoleBomb

Ohio

3.28/5  rDev -8.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Poured into a tulip. Huge price on this ($13 for 12.7 oz), so it better be good.

3.5 A: Little gushing going on, but I was quick enough to not lose anything. Mildly hazed deep cherry red color. Big frothy pink head. Retention is decent and a few clumps of lacing are left behind.

4.0 S: Pretty good nose on this. Smells a lot, at its base, like some of the finer Belgian krieks in its rawness. Cherry opens the nose as the most potent aroma. Vinous grape underneath. Lots of funk that is mainly limited to the musty basement variety. Dry wood, sweat socks as well. As this isn't very tart at all, this is definitely a funk forward kriek and those happen to be my favorite. Hay, dirt, and apple orchard. Light vanilla and oak.

3.0 T: While the nose gets by, and gets by well, with limited complexity, it really hurts the taste. Again this has basically no tartness or sourness, which I would have thought to be impossible when using cherries. Instead, you get a dry, dusty woodiness and musty basement funk. Moderate tannic astringency. Surprisingly little fruitiness - even the cherry doesn't stand out much. Just a lot of one-dimensional funk. Not bad, but not good either.

3.5 M: Lighter body. Good moderate carbonation with a decent spritziness. Astringency lowers the smoothness a bit, but it's okay overall.

3.0 D: Pretty mundane kriek. I could have almost bought a 3F Golden Blend for the same price. Mikkeller once again proves me to be an idiot for giving there mega-priced beers another chance.

Serving type: bottle

11-11-2012 02:21:05 | More by DavoleBomb

logicerror

California

4.25/5  rDev +18.4%

05-13-2013 04:06:54 | More by logicerror

TonyTalon

Wisconsin

3/5  rDev -16.4%

05-12-2013 20:00:43 | More by TonyTalon

atone315

Wisconsin

3.25/5  rDev -9.5%

05-11-2013 14:58:18 | More by atone315

lacqueredmouse

Australia

3.65/5  rDev +1.7%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

375ml green gueuze bottle purchased from Ledger's Liquors in Berkeley, CA.

Pours a pink-hued cranberry juice red, with a pale pink, frothy head that settles to a persistent film and solid lace. Body is light and clean, holding pretty full carbonation. Looks pretty decent.

Nose has plenty of gueuze-like funk to it. A big plasticky Brett note, mingling pleasantly with the kriek, pithy, fruity but tart and sharp intrinsically. There's a strange spiciness to it as well, almost a cinnamon character backing it up. To be honest, I've had some others in the series, and I remember them being more intense in the funk and the acidity. So far, this seems a little weak.

Taste is certainly weak. The acidity is just not there at all, although the sour cherry character does a strong job trying to compensate. Mild crispness comes from the carbonation, but there's really quite a lack of true lambic acidity. There's also a candy sweetness coming through: perhaps the cherry provides more sugar than expected, in any case, it feels much less sophisticated than it should. At the same time, there's quite a bitterness on the back—where the acidity should be, there's quite a bite that makes it less refreshing and less drinkable.

Overall, it's a decent kriek. There's a genuinely pleasant cherry character to it, and it's certainly less of a candy-beer than, say, Lindemans Kriek or Boon Kriek. But others in the spontan- series have been really quite intense and very lambic-like. Disappointingly, this doesn't really follow suit.

Serving type: bottle

05-11-2013 04:44:58 | More by lacqueredmouse

anhigdon

Kentucky

2.75/5  rDev -23.4%

05-10-2013 19:29:41 | More by anhigdon

tsauce2

Indiana

3.75/5  rDev +4.5%

05-04-2013 16:06:11 | More by tsauce2

bsinger45

Colorado

3/5  rDev -16.4%

04-29-2013 21:16:35 | More by bsinger45

Googs

New York

3.5/5  rDev -2.5%

04-27-2013 15:09:45 | More by Googs

MSandahl23

Indiana

3.5/5  rDev -2.5%

04-26-2013 19:03:38 | More by MSandahl23

TallSaint

United Kingdom (Scotland)

2.75/5  rDev -23.4%

04-22-2013 00:45:47 | More by TallSaint

Hultkrantz

Sweden

3.75/5  rDev +4.5%

03-06-2013 18:28:49 | More by Hultkrantz

Trilogy31

California

3/5  rDev -16.4%

03-04-2013 03:58:58 | More by Trilogy31

ngeunit1

California

4.33/5  rDev +20.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A - Cloudy reddish with a finger of frothy white head. Fades normal.

S - Wheat, sour cherries, lemon zest, tart green fruit, funky yeast, sourness, barnyard funk, acidity, funky yeasts.

T - Sourness, sour and black cherries, tart green fruits, lemon zest, wheat, funky barnyard flavors and yeast, acidity, lactic acid, oak, vanilla.

M - Medium bodied with moderate carbonation. Smooth with a tart, funky, sour, and lightly sweet finish.

D - Very tart and acidic. Nicely balanced and good kick.

Serving type: bottle

02-13-2013 04:41:55 | More by ngeunit1

popery

California

3.5/5  rDev -2.5%

02-11-2013 17:12:01 | More by popery

tswater

Colorado

4.25/5  rDev +18.4%

02-08-2013 23:26:15 | More by tswater

Haybeerman

Colorado

3.75/5  rDev +4.5%

02-07-2013 21:51:47 | More by Haybeerman

andrewinski1

Maine

3.38/5  rDev -5.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Poured into a wine taster. The color is murky deep red. There is a nice pink fluffy one inch head.

The aroma is full of slightly tart but mostly sweet cherry.

The taste lacks a bit in cherry flavor delivery. There is a mix of lemongrass. The tartness is mild; this is crisp with very sharp carbonation.

This is decent, but it doesn't quite hit the mark when it comes to the taste.

Serving type: bottle

01-30-2013 05:13:55 | More by andrewinski1

Seanniek91

New Hampshire

3.91/5  rDev +8.9%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

Poured from a 12.7oz bottle into a Kriek Belle-Vue tulip.

Appearance- Popped the cap and immediately the beer foams out. Didn't lose much though. Beautiful mahogany/pinkish color with big fluffy white head that left some lacing around the rim.

Smell- Acidic. Lemony vinegar. Tart cherries. Earthy/oaky flavors? Grass. Brett. Wicked funky. So nice.

Taste- There's a lot of layers here. Tart lemon. Weird cherry flavor. Bitter. Some rubbing alcohol. All over the boards here. The lingering flavor is good, but I can't figure out what I'm tasting.

Mouthfeel- Average "lambic" feel. Very bubbly and smooth. No boozey heat.

Overall- This is a weird beer. I'm baffled by it, but still deeply intrigued as well.

Serving type: bottle

01-29-2013 04:24:31 | More by Seanniek91

st9647v3

New Jersey

4/5  rDev +11.4%

01-20-2013 23:30:57 | More by st9647v3

xdefeatsy

Ohio

3.5/5  rDev -2.5%

01-20-2013 19:41:43 | More by xdefeatsy

sirtomtom

California

2.83/5  rDev -21.2%
look: 5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 2.25

A: Pours a beautiful ruby red color, with a thin white head

S: A nice sour funk to this. A bit of, for lack of a better word, socks. However it was fairly pleasant overall.

T: This is where it went awry. I could only drink the beer by itself. No food, no other beers, anything. Anything else brought out a horrible metallic flavor. Wrecked the beer. Aside from that, none of the cherries came out at all. There could have been red food coloring in the beer for all I could taste. The goods were that it had a nice sour tartness to it that paired well with the body of the beer. The barrel aging works for it, helps mellow out the sourness.

M: Great mouth feel. Nice medium body to it, expectant of a fruit lambic.

O: Overall the beer could have been better. The cherries should really come out more in this beer, since they put in enough to impact the color. The sourness was spot on. What really didn't work was the metallic flavor that came out when I tried to eat anything with the beer. Some extra funky yeast was in there.

Serving type: bottle

01-18-2013 04:35:29 | More by sirtomtom

sendbeer

Georgia

3.5/5  rDev -2.5%

12-27-2012 05:41:16 | More by sendbeer

larryi86

Delaware

3.85/5  rDev +7.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

12.7 oz bottle poured into a snifter

A- Rudy red with a two finger pink head.

S- Horse blanket funk, some cherry pie, some oak.

T- Sour, some cherries, funky, metallic flavor that really throws the taste off. As the beer warms up the metallic taste fades and gets some oak and a touch of wine. Much better warm, went from a 2.5 chilled to a 4 at room temp.

M- Medium body, crisp.

O- Not a bad lambic, but not great. Gets a lot better as it warms. Funky, not much fruit, but nice oak and a touch of wine. Drink at room temp, do not chill! Chilled this is just a mess and I did thing about drain pouring, but as it warmed it became very drinkable.

Serving type: bottle

12-23-2012 22:50:09 | More by larryi86

chippo33

Vermont

3.5/5  rDev -2.5%

12-21-2012 03:44:21 | More by chippo33