Imperial Cranberry Lambic - Bethlehem Brew Works

hopdog

Pennsylvania

4.05/5  rDev +1.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

On tap at the BBW Brew Pub.

Poured a deep and cloudy peach color with a peach colored head (I got the color peach from my wife, but she nailed the color). Aromas of strong tart, tart cranberries, cherries, light citrus and yeast. Tastes of lighter cranberries and a little fruity. Tastes not as tart as the aromas would have you expect. Also has a light sweet berry quality to it. Alcohol content hidden

Notes from 5/13/06

Serving type: on-tap

11-25-2008 00:52:19 | More by hopdog

Metalmonk

North Carolina

3.98/5  rDev 0%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A fine offering from Bethlehem Brew Works. This baby was tapped into a goblet and even though it had no real head, lambics usually don't. It was cloudy and had a color like that of real apple cider (the thick stuff) with an orange tint.

Smell was a farmhouse kind of dirtiness along with strong cranberry fumes.

Flavor was a hybrid of of barnyard funk arising from the yeast, and the tart, sour essence of cranberry. The balance was right on, the mouthfeel was springy and substantial, the drinkability quite high. A real lambic? Probably not, but it definitely quenched and had enough strong points to recommend it.

Serving type: on-tap

06-29-2006 22:53:17 | More by Metalmonk

northyorksammy

Ontario (Canada)

3.9/5  rDev -2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

In a blind tasting, I think this could pass as a Belgian. Distinctly tart and real cranberry, hardly sweetened at all. Cloudy peach colour, lots of foam. with a unique and pleasant aroma. Y-yeast and not a purpously infected batch, and oak cask stored. Easy mouthfeel.

Serving type: on-tap

05-21-2006 04:23:13 | More by northyorksammy

erica

California

4/5  rDev +0.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

After finally getting through some carbonation hook-up problems, the Imperial Cranberry Lambic was tapped during my latest Thursday happy hour visit. A sample was put in front of me without even asking. Damn those guys are good- Mikey!

For starters, the beer is murky-cloudy. I mean, no light would pass through this, ever. Not much of a head on mine but I saw other glasses with a good inch or so of frothy foam. The color was a light peachy-pink-amber.

It smelled really really fresh. I somehow get a teeny bit of an eggy smell from it, which reminded me of a certain smell/taste I got from some Cantillon beers that I sampled AT Cantillon. Mega-freshness I suppose. Also smelled like sour apples. Where are the cranberries? I don't know, let's take a sip and find out. Well, it's pretty mellow for a lambic, just a little bit funky, with a big apple taste. So, where are the cranberries? Maybe they were tiny apples mislabeled as cranberries? So, along with this nice apple taste, I got a nice spice too- cinnamon mostly. Not sure if it's my imagination, but I sort of taste a yeasty crust in the background too. So I guess the simplest way to describe this lambic is sour apple pie. I like it, but I don't understand where the cranberry ran off to. They should rename it Imperial Apple Pie Lambic, then no one would question it.

Mouthfeel is nice, fizzy but not thin, it isn't as thick as it looks either. Drinkability is good, but at an Imperial ABV of 8%, this is not a session lambic.

Serving type: on-tap

04-14-2006 14:08:57 | More by erica