Spontandryhop Simcoe
Mikkeller ApS

 

 

330 ml bottle into tulip glass, best before 3/2/2021. Pours slightly hazy medium golden yellow color with a 2 finger dense and fluffy white head with good retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing clings on the glass. Aromas of big tart lemon, lime, grapefruit, pineapple, orange peel, mango, melon, pepper, light pine, oak, wheat, cracker, hay, straw, light leathery funk, floral, grass, and yeast earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of citrus/tropical hops, fruity/funky/spicy/acidic yeast, oak, and moderate pale malt notes; with great strength. Taste of big tart lemon, lime, grapefruit, pineapple, orange peel, mango, melon, pepper, light pine, oak, wheat, cracker, hay, straw, light leathery funk, floral, grass, and yeast earthiness. Moderate lactic tartness, yeast/tannic oak spiciness, and light pine/grassy bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of tart lemon, lime, grapefruit, pineapple, orange peel, mango, melon, pepper, pine, oak, wheat, cracker, hay, straw, funk, and yeast earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Great complexity, robustness, and balance of citrus/tropical hops, fruity/funky/spicy/acidic yeast, oak, and moderate pale flavors; with a great malt/tart/spiciness balance, and zero puckering/astringent flavors after the finish. Moderate dryness from tart/spiciness, lightly increasing through the glass. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth, moderate crisp, acidic/grainy/bready, and lightly tannic balanced mouthfeel that is great. Zero warming alcohol as expected of 5.5%. Overall this is a great dry hopped unblended lambic. All around great complexity, robustness, and balance of citrus/tropical hops, fruity/funky/spicy/acidic yeast, oak, and moderate pale flavors; very smooth, crisp, and quite refreshing to drink with the balanced acidity. This was less acidic and more malty than others in the series, but still had great complexity all around. A very enjoyable offering.

 

 

 

 

 

330ml bottle - a dry-hopped wild ale, in this case with Simcoe - got it.

This beer pours a hazy, yet bright medium golden yellow colour, with a teeming tower of puffy, loosely foamy, and somewhat fizzy off-white head, which leaves some splattered snow rime lace around the glass as it readily subsides.

It smells of sort of funky yeast, zesty orange, red grapefruit, and lemon citrus, gritty and grainy pale malt, a hint of spicy wheatiness, and further leafy and floral green hop bitters. The taste is bready and grainy pale malt, a lesser wheaten cereal character, soured milk, mild barnyard funk, mixed (but still heady) citrus and apple/pear fruity esters, and more floral, weedy, and herbal hoppiness.

The carbonation is quite assertive in its roiling and tickling frothiness, the body a decent middleweight, and mostly smooth, just a bit of citric acerbity lightly muddying the waters, as such. It finishes off-dry, the lingering fruitiness thankfully pushing any remaining funk to the side.

Overall, this comes across as a very refreshing and engaging sour ale, with the guest Simcoe hops turning the fruity levels up to 11. Easy to drink, and, as noted, pleasantly low-key on the funk/dirt quotient, which is aaaaaaaalllll riiiiiiight by me.

 

 

 

Fruity lambic. Tart but not sour. Not very funky but a lot about tropical fruits and citrus. Definitely an original beer. A good modern interpretation of a classic style

 

 

 

Slightly dense golden and copper color. No head to be found by the time that the draft was brought to me. No lacing.

Sweet and floral nose. Funk and barnyard. Very clean.

Lightly bitter upfront. A little bit of grassy and floral notes. Moderate funk. Far more funk than tart or sour aspects. Green apple and vinous notes. Sharp oaky finish that I've come to expect from the Spontan series.

Light bodied. Light to moderate carbonation. Crisp and dry finish.

My first of the DryHop series, so I don't have a frame of reference, yet. It's gueuze-esque with a light hoppy quality. Think more astringent and unrefined Cantillon Iris.

i have to be fair and honestly declare that of the single hopped spontan beers, i have only had the citra before this one, so my field of view is limited, but this is a way better beer to me, more balanced, refreshing, and cleaner despite being more flavorful. i think its easy to overdo citra, and they did (still liked it a lot), but this is next level. truly. i ave long thought simcoe to be a relatively aggressive varietal, good for pine and grapefruit alike depending on how it is used, bitterness, and oils, it has all the assets, but here is a more delicate but also more pronounced version of its whole self. i get a more complete hop in this beer, best of all possible hop scenarios. dramatic but not out of harmony with a really cool lambic base beer that people who hate on this series all too often forget. its sour and funky, super wood driven, and the hops, as bold as they are, only serve to accentuate this stuff, instead of the other way around. even though its the base hop profile for one hundred million beers, i have a new appreciation and respect for simcoe after this one. thats the power of mikkeller...

Hazy golden color with off-white head. Aroma is full-on lambic with some dank hoppy notes. Funky with hay, musty cellar and barnyard notes. Taste is not as funky but it's tart, lemony, hoppy and fresh. Hops are not as present and aromatic as in the Citra and Mosaic versions. Body is light but smooth and the carbonation is soft, making it very drinkable. Sourness is also not very harsh. Overall it's a very easy drinking and refreshing lambic style hoppy ale.