Thumbprint Cran-Bic
New Glarus Brewing Company

Thumbprint Cran-BicThumbprint Cran-Bic
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From:
New Glarus Brewing Company
 
Wisconsin, United States
Style:
Fruit Lambic
Ranked #55
ABV:
6%
Score:
94
Ranked #2,299
Avg:
4.23 | pDev: 9.93%
Reviews:
408
Ratings:
1,318
Status:
Active
Rated:
Feb 18, 2023
Added:
Oct 16, 2009
Wants:
  286
Gots:
  206
A few times a year we cut Dan loose to brew whatever he chooses. Always handcrafted, the bottle you hold is brewed for the adventurous soul. This is a very limited edition and we make no promises to ever brew this style again.

Sparkling and bright this is a Wisconsin original created for you in the traditional method employed by the Lambic Brewers of Belgium including five months of outdoor resting in oak barrels. Indigenous yeast and cranberries from the “wilds” of Wisconsin flawlessly pair to dance on your palette. You have discovered a rare and delightful treasure to be served cold in a fluted glass.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Photo of JohnnyHopps
Reviewed by JohnnyHopps from Indiana

4.35/5  rDev +2.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Appearance - The beer was yellow with a maroon tint. Carbonation was visible.

Nose - The nose was tart, it paralleled the cranberry flavor.

Taste - The more recent vintage had a more sour flavor. Older vintages drink like juice. The tartness of the cranberry works so well. Notes of candy sugar and wheat lay in the back. The cranberry tingles the tongue with its tartness.

Mouthfeel - The body had some staying power, even with strong carbonation.

Overall - Clearly, this is one of the better Thumbprints.
Feb 18, 2023
 
Rated: 4.41 by mdaschaf from Indiana

Jul 13, 2022
 
Rated: 4.46 by Coronaeus from Canada (ON)

Sep 19, 2021
 
Rated: 3.8 by SargeC from California

May 23, 2021
 
Rated: 3.5 by ejimhof from Pennsylvania

Apr 20, 2021
 
Rated: 4.43 by Scottsbeer from Florida

Apr 11, 2021
Photo of jrc1093
Reviewed by jrc1093 from Connecticut

4.07/5  rDev -3.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
2020 vintage (bottle reads 'A161'); consumed on 4/2/21

Pours an almost completely clear, vibrant, golden rusty orange body capped with over two fingers of fluffy, off-white/pale pink foam; solid head retention yields a spotty, paper-thin cap, a slight yet frothy collar, and a generous misting of thin, webby/spotty lacing coating the walls of the glass.

Aroma offers an immediate punch of horsey funk peaking quickly into a mineralic salinity and tones of wet rocks; macerated cranberries and lighter strawberry esters come through strongly over the middle, as a cranberry juice sweetness builds into the back end and is leveled only slightly by tinges of barnyard funk.

Taste shows a tentative barnyard funk over the front of the palate, phasing into green apple and musty lime before cranberry washes over mid-palate; wet grass and a touch of fresh minerality gives way to overripe strawberry, musty red apple cores, and straw beneath the building, overripe cranberry overtone through the finish.

Mouthfeel brings a medium body, silky and bordering on creamy in texture, along with a boggy puff of low-lying carbonation; a firm acidity tries meekly to counterbalance the encroaching sticky textures over the mid-palate as a tingly grit captures the back end and a weighty finish juxtaposes a crisp, nearly flaky dryness past the swallow.

Your typical New Glarus fruit intensity meshes cleanly with bursts of authentic funk, with an advancing sweetness composing the primary characteristics of a decidedly off-center and entirely competent take on a fruit lambic; traditional this is not, though the brewery signature places this proudly in a (sub-)category of its own.
Apr 03, 2021
 
Rated: 4.4 by Yungcoolship from Wisconsin

Feb 05, 2021
 
Rated: 4.19 by dexterk1 from Illinois

Feb 03, 2021
 
Rated: 3.41 by EasternIsh from California

Jan 12, 2021
Photo of martinimike82
Rated by martinimike82 from Colorado

4.24/5  rDev +0.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Good beer that is crisp and refreshing. Nice tartness from the cranberry.
Jan 11, 2021
Photo of cyclonece09
Reviewed by cyclonece09 from Wisconsin

4.18/5  rDev -1.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Poured from a bottle (2020 Vintage) into a pint glass. Pours bright red with a small white head. Smells of sour cranberries and other fruit notes. Tastes of sour cranberry with strawberry and other fruit note. Beer is light bodied yet a sipper, good carbonation. Overall, a superb beer.
Jan 11, 2021
Photo of SierraNevallagash
Reviewed by SierraNevallagash from Maine

4.11/5  rDev -2.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4
335ml bottle - 2020 release - poured into a flute at 42°F.

Pours a crystal-clear pale scarlet hue, topped with a short, sudsy, pale pink head that quickly recedes, leaving some wispy lace behind.

Nose: Cranberry is very evident - natural and fresh, like a pot of lightly simmered cranberries. A bit jammy and juicy, but then a very subtle funk presence reveals itself, with some implied tartness, wheat, wet hay, oak, dusty stone, and general coolship funk notes. Definitely a lambic-like thread beneath the fruit. Subtle, restrained, and balanced - though very friendly and not at all challenging or funky.

Palate: Cran-Bic greets the palate with equal parts tartness and sweetness - exploding with a big, ripe, sweetened cranberry flavour - not dissimilar to natural cranberry juice, maybe a touch less sweet. Parallel to this tart, zippy acidity that leans mostly lactic, but with just a thread of balsamic vinegar. The sweetness keeps any pucker at bay, and the cranberry lends its own unique tartness. There's some pilsner malt, some musty wet oak, some subtle native microflora bacterial funk, sweaty brett, lemon, musty hops, drying grass, and red vinous character. The sweetness subsides, and some more classic wild/spontaneous ale notes emerge in the finish, with the oak taking over, letting some more brett, hay, stony minerality, lemon, and hay come forward. The finish itself is fairly dry, with some lingering oak, brett, and cranberry.

Mouthfeel/Body: Classic New Glarus right here. You know that Martinelli's sparking cider you get around the holidays? Light-bodied, with some residual sugar weight, and lively effervescence with incredibly fine fizzy bubbles. It's clean and snappy, with the oak and gentle acidity lending a nice drying element.

Overall: This is great. You know New Glarus beers are going to be sweet, so don't expect Cantillon here. Cran-tillon haha. joking. It isn't as sweet as those Lindeman's sweet lambics. This actually has some genuinely wild funk beneath the fruit, which is not syrupy, and is quite natural. It's jammy and fruity, with a nice wild spirit that shines through. Like lambic blended with a NG fruit beer. For what it is (a NG fruit beer), I think it's fantastic, and really shines with that Method Traditionelle influence coming through.
Nov 27, 2020
Photo of new_glarus_stan_acct
Reviewed by new_glarus_stan_acct from Wisconsin

4.99/5  rDev +18%
look: 4.75 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5
L: The only thing that this one doesn't hit perfectly, it's a little light and belies how strong this one hits
S: You like cranberries? we got cranberries
T: unlike some of NG's other fruit beers, this is not a sweet one, a beautifully mature sour taste that lends itself to a slow drink. Nothing else can really hit quite like this even among other cranberries. Some people are saying that it's too sour but that's truly where it strength lies.
F: a slight fizz, matching its faint sweetness, overall the feel definitely complements the flavor.

O: This is my favorite NG product, you can't do cranberries better than this.
Nov 23, 2020
 
Rated: 4.23 by Nunya from Ohio

Oct 24, 2020
Photo of smbslt
Reviewed by smbslt from Illinois

4.37/5  rDev +3.3%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
Red-orange with a hint of cloudiness, substantial pink head that retreats to a thin layer surrounded by a creamy ring that stubbornly adheres to the side of the tulip stretching and recoiling with every tilt of the glass.
Sweet aroma with some berry and a touch of brett funk.
Starts with a crazy tartness that morphs into a complex fruity richness and depth .
Releasing carbonation accentuating the thick coating nature

Not an everyday treat but a treat none the less.
Oct 17, 2020
 
Rated: 4.29 by ssimpson89 from Illinois

Sep 28, 2020
Photo of Luscious_Malfoy
Reviewed by Luscious_Malfoy from Illinois

4.42/5  rDev +4.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
poured from a 12oz bottled into a stemmed goblet. pours an opaque ruby red with a finger or so of firm white foam head. funky hay and grass with cranberry and lemon on the nose. heavy cranberry on the tongue with a lightly funky and even lighter sour finish. typical lambic mouthfeel with it being a touch thinner than most farmhouse ales and a little more carbonated. this is delicious. very glad to have picked up a 4pk.
Sep 20, 2020
Photo of DoubleJ
Reviewed by DoubleJ from Wisconsin

4.78/5  rDev +13%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
I sometimes question that my creativity is dwindling. I think convenience can be a wonderful thing, but like preassembled IKEA furniture, it does sacrifice some creativity and character. I love being able to snap photos of new beers that I tried, however I also sometimes feel that my connection with the beer has become lost, especially as I have fallen out of love for writing the long reviews of the drink I love.

Cran-bic 2020 is not a beer made for convenience, with its slow drinking character and sharp tartness. For tonight, I have attempted to bring back a part of the old me; the early 2010s vintage of my beer geekdom, but revived this one time, in the year the Wu-Flu. On to the beer:

Cran-bic 2020 pours like a rosé wine, clean bodied and pinkish red body with lively bubbles visibly running through the body. Head leaves a few washes of creamy lace that hold to the glass. I smell an appetizing sour beer. Cranberries are one of those fruits that I have little experience in the raw, so for me it’s tough to exactly gauge how much cranberry I should be smelling, but if there’s one brewery who I would trust the most for fruit beer, it’s New Glarus.

Oh mama! You may be inclined to curl your toes after a sip. The acidity, the fruit, the sourness, it’s all lined up beautifully. You keep wanting to go back to your glass for another sip, even though this beer packs a wallop of pleasing acidity seen in a good lambic. This runs in a body which darts small bubbles onto your palate and sticks the fruit of cranberries there as well, and well into the aftertaste.

Raspberry Tart, Wisconsin Belgian Red, Berliner Apfel, Serendipity, Nectar Ale, now Cran-bic 2020. I’m immune to amazement of any New Glarus fruit beers, because I have become used to their excellence in spades. This is country miles ahead of the infamous Sam Adams Cranberry Lambic that was on market during the mid-2000s, perhaps my only other run-in with a beer labeled as such. Which fruit sour will they roll out with next?
Sep 18, 2020
 
Rated: 4 by Th3Boss from Wisconsin

Sep 04, 2020
Thumbprint Cran-Bic from New Glarus Brewing Company
Beer rating: 94 out of 100 with 1318 ratings