Oudbeitje Lambic - Hanssens Artisanaal bvba

TheDM

Indiana

1.3/5  rDev -65.2%
look: 3 | smell: 1.5 | taste: 1 | feel: 1 | overall: 1.5

This brew poured a very little white head of large bubbles. Its body is an appealingly nice amber brown with bubbles clinging to the side on my mug. There is some lacing evident as the head disappears before I can taste it. It has a burnt wood aroma, not fruity as I expected. It tastes as bad as it smells. I took one sip and poured the rest. Too bad it was an $8.00 bottle.

Serving type: bottle

07-12-2003 15:13:21 | More by TheDM

francisweizen

Australia

4.25/5  rDev +13.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

This is a great traditional lambic beer, brewed by the fine folks at Hanssens. This beer poured a nice dark yellow colour with a small white cap of foam on the top. The aromas were of horse blanket, various farm odors and animal smells, musty grapes, and a more general mustiness. The flavor was super tart, lip puckering and excellent. Nice strawberry flavors appearared in the middle, before the dry as all hell finish. The mouthfeel was very lively and carbonated and the drinkability is good if you like these traditional lambic beers (which I do) A far cry from a lindemans, or even a liefmans!

Cheers!
-F

Serving type: bottle

05-22-2003 22:22:37 | More by francisweizen

jreitman

California

4.7/5  rDev +25.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Had this at Monk's and am in the process of trying to find it available out here in Seattle. Normally I am not a big fan of lambics as I find them too fruity but this one is superb. Poured a hazy orange with a non-existent head. Carbonation was pretty high also contributing some to the flavor. Sugary strawberries hit you in the nose but the fruit smell is not nearly as you would get in a Lindemanns brew. The tartness in this beer and the overall flavor reminded me very much of Rodenbach Grand Cru, just replace the cherry like flavors with strawberry and you get an idea what you are in for. An absolutely outstanding brew that even managed to convince my girlfriend that tart beers are not all bad. I found the brew to be amazingly complex and am especially glad Tom Peters recommended it.

(Update) K's in Bellevue had it in stock.

Serving type: bottle

01-05-2003 17:18:40 | More by jreitman

marc77

California

4.35/5  rDev +16.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Hazy light orange in hue, w/ a thin ring of bubbles around the rim of the glass. Akin to unfiltered sparkling cider in appearance. Sweet, ripe, sugary strawberries hit the nose at first, then are ceded by notes of yeast must, bready grain, and lactic tartness, with hints of wet horse and trace aged, cheesy hops emerging towards the end of the aroma. In flavor, the initial snap of fruit sweetness is quickly overrun by a nearly puckering tartness. Fruit flavor is not lost amongst the tart character, and strawberry persists throughout, albeit in an unripe fashion. The hint of diacetyl adds a creamy, buttery undertone that supplements the lactic tartness and prevents it from being overbearing and one dimensional. "Wild" Brettanomyces yeast emerges as mild notes of wet hay. As my palate becomes accustomed to the tartness, fruitiness reverts to a freshly picked strawberry nature. Spot on in body-- light, somewhat spritzy, but not at all weak or watery. Finishes simultaneously sweet, tart and dry. Oudbeitje is a complex and delicious lambic. The interplay of sweet fruitiness and lactic tartness teases the palate in a capricious way. The real deal.

Serving type: bottle

11-23-2002 18:40:40 | More by marc77

putnam

Michigan

4.47/5  rDev +19.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

"Limited Edition Year 2000"
Dry, loose cork. Almost no fizz. Papaya pulp colored.

Aromas are gastric and suggest sweet, fresh asparagus together with strawberry, paper and aluminum.

The attack is silky smooth and displays a slow crescendo of supple, wild strawberrys, fresh peas, honey, green tomatoes and linden.

Impressive.

I wonder how long this bottling will last?

Serving type: bottle

10-31-2002 18:06:10 | More by putnam

TheLongBeachBum

California

4.38/5  rDev +17.1%
look: 3 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

When I was doing the Beerfly for the Palace Hotel, I came across my notes for the Hanssens Strawberry Lambic that I had there on the last night of our Easter trip in 2000. I remember it so vividly. Guy (the owner) was behind the bar and he had had some good trade from us throughout the weekend, and produced some unlabelled corked brown glass bottles with, as he called it, Hanssens Strawberry Lambic. The only sign of something strange was a dark red steel cap above the champagne cork but under the cage enclosure. It is now marketed and labelled as Oudbeitje I see.
The first surprise was the color - I expected some pinky red lambic - but this was a dark copper colored murky looking lambic with no carbonation whatsoever, totally flat. This was a lambic that had hints of strawberry, rather than say a steeped Kriek where the fruit is dominant. The acidity was still quite high (good), sourness was prevalant at first, but the tinge of strawberries invaded in the middle and balanced the dryness at the end to a rather sharp but sweet finish. Excellent attempt at a new fruit lambic, only really let down by its flat appearance. I simply must try this again.

Serving type: bottle

10-05-2002 19:55:52 | More by TheLongBeachBum

NeroFiddled

Pennsylvania

4.43/5  rDev +18.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

B.United International's (importer) Masters' Collection - Limited Edition Year 2000 - Strawberry Lambic. 375 ml corked, caged bottle. Cork was dry. Hazy, deep orange in color. No head - flat. The aroma is complex: sour, acetic, brettanomyces (barnyard), lightly sweet with some candyish strawberry, musty, leathery. The body is thin and the mouthfeel is powdery. The flavor starts with a soft acidity which immediately turns quite sharp on the front of the tongue - puckering, leading into some light fruit flavor (wow!?!) and some broader flavors of limited residual sugar, leather, mustiness as the liquid warms across the palate, then dissolves from the tongue with a quickly passing light metallic note, leaving a dry, powdery finish and a "sour spot" at the back of the throat. Surprisingly not astringent, as it's often expected. Not a very complex lambic, but quite surprising in the clarity of the strawberry note (a difficult fruit to work with because of it's light character).

Serving type: bottle

08-20-2002 09:47:46 | More by NeroFiddled