Belle Fraise
10 Barrel Brewing Co.

a collaboration with belle-vue in belgium, a strawberry lambic, cork and cage, green glass, high authenticity, one of the coolest beers i have ever seen from 10 barrel, and one of the most delicious, i am thankful to have had this so generously shared with me, i have to imagine its a rarity. it certainly smells like lambic, the lightly pink liquid is strong with oak, musty funk, and raw wheat qualities, my mouth waters immediately, its quite piquant, with a little lemon and white wine vinegar to it, some oak tannins, and a distinctive bacterial profile. the strawberries smell sweet, but are more than balanced by the sourness overall, natural and ripe, like high summer, just gorgeous, and well complimented by the sharp citrus i get in here too. the flavor is every bit as good as the nose, lots of strawberry but this is very dry on the whole, and theres not so much fruit that the lambic mash cant be fully appreciated, this is still old worldy and wheaty and all of that, hints of iodine and oak, apple cider and raspberry as well, very complex and mature, the base lambic is solid, maybe not elite level, but by the time the berries and the ageing do their thing, it certainly approaches the best in the game, really it does. i know these are bud operations, but who cares when the beer is this good?! high carbonation is so enjoyable in old lambic, and it really gives this an almost sparkling wine texture. high funk to finish, and it warms up incredibly well too. i was so stoked on this, one of my favorite beers of the year so far in 2020, remarkably good. a special treat!