Beer: Defiant Lambic
Defiant Brewery has a "members" club that allows purchase of this brewery's limited edition beers. Defiant Lambic has been on this limited edition list lately so we picked up two bottles about a month ago. As I enjoy lambic (fruit and otherwise) I bought two bottles. One we drank immediately the other we let cellar for 3 weeks. Both were bad and in the same way.
This lambic, I strongly suspect, was not brewed as a lambic but instead is a blending of Defiant Porter and a some other ale (perhaps asour ale) gone badly wrong.
The beer poured a nut brown with an aggressive foamy-ness that causes it to overflow the glass no matter how carefully one poured. At about 1/3 of a pint glass of beer it overflowed the remainder glass with foam. The head retention is short to moderate. The smell is sweet, sour, and woody all that the same time. There was a bit of phenolic character, but not strongly. One imagines a bit of barrel aging but it isn't consistently the same as other barrel aged beers I have tried. I think it is more likely the sherry note from oxidation than barrel aging. The mouth feel was thin and grain flavors were completely subsumed by yeast characteristics. The top note has an acidic fruit (read lemon or lime) flavor that fights with a floral and green hop bitterness. The hop is so floral that I suspect a dry hopping, but not tied to the porter flavors. If one sips carefully, one can taste the signature boil hop and malt character of Defiant's regular porter offering. There is a bit of sweet and sour in the middle. The ending is sour in a way that may be brettanomyces and may just be contamination. Regardless, the beer is downright unpleasant.
Verdict: Undrinkable
Brewery: Defiant Brewery
Location: Pearl River, NY USA
Style: Lambic
Brew: Lambic (Limited Edition)
Container: brown glass 40 oz
Bottle conditioned: Yes
This lambic, I strongly suspect, was not brewed as a lambic but instead is a blending of Defiant Porter and a some other ale (perhaps asour ale) gone badly wrong.
The beer poured a nut brown with an aggressive foamy-ness that causes it to overflow the glass no matter how carefully one poured. At about 1/3 of a pint glass of beer it overflowed the remainder glass with foam. The head retention is short to moderate. The smell is sweet, sour, and woody all that the same time. There was a bit of phenolic character, but not strongly. One imagines a bit of barrel aging but it isn't consistently the same as other barrel aged beers I have tried. I think it is more likely the sherry note from oxidation than barrel aging. The mouth feel was thin and grain flavors were completely subsumed by yeast characteristics. The top note has an acidic fruit (read lemon or lime) flavor that fights with a floral and green hop bitterness. The hop is so floral that I suspect a dry hopping, but not tied to the porter flavors. If one sips carefully, one can taste the signature boil hop and malt character of Defiant's regular porter offering. There is a bit of sweet and sour in the middle. The ending is sour in a way that may be brettanomyces and may just be contamination. Regardless, the beer is downright unpleasant.
Verdict: Undrinkable
Brewery: Defiant Brewery
Location: Pearl River, NY USA
Style: Lambic
Brew: Lambic (Limited Edition)
Container: brown glass 40 oz
Bottle conditioned: Yes