For Fan
LoverBeer

2016 vintage

This is a beer I picked up at OEC nearly a year ago and forgot all about. Seeing it today was perfect, as an apricot Wild Ale seems like a perfect pairing for this warm day. Let’s pop it open and see what it’s all about

Pours a completely flat cloudy orange with no head and obviously no lacing

The nose is sharp but still pretty well rounded. I’m picking up on aromas of jammy apricot, lemon juice, sweet honey, petrichor, apple skin, white wine vinegar, dark bread, light fig, and leather

It isn’t quite as expressive in taste, a bit one dimensional but I can still get down with it. On the front end of the sip I’m tasting lemon zest, dried apricot, stone, wet hay, sweet honey, and apple skin. The swallow brings notes of dried apricot, lemon zest, bready malt, apple cider vinegar, sweet honey, and wet hay

A medium body pairs with gentle tingling carbonation, resulting in a slick beer. Finishes rather neutral and tart

This one is kinda strange and definitely past it’s prime, but it’s still pretty damn enjoyable overall

 

On the nose immediately notes attributable to a lambic (almost "sweat", leather, wood).
Light orange color, completely clean and transparent.
In the mouth, very smooth body, it goes down like a wonder.
Not even the shadow of the 7%.
Apricot flavor: sour at the beginning then it moves on to the sweet note, but soft, short and full of apricot.
Light acetic note that gives that sense of harmoniousness attributable to a barely perceptible astringency.
Surprisingly dry, clean finish. I do not know how. Clean tongue with a sense of apricot (or white peach) skin, clean palate.
Complex in its simplicity.
Very balanced.
It fully respects the style it is inspired by (Fruit lambic).

Taking on the true and rustic taste of Italy, the brewers of LoverBeer take their love of the Brussels lambic tradition and applies them to the Italian terroir, along with a generous splash of apricots for that extra succulent zing.

Golden peach and suspended in a fine yeast haze, the slightly burnish gold For Fan swirls a delicate necklace of bubbles before teasing the nose with an acetic leading sour and spicy twinge of the nose. Along with those elevated notes of stone fruit, a strong scent of white wine brings a brine of the sea, cider, leather and hay. As its lighter sweetness glosses the tongue, its sourdough and taffy sweetness is hardly a buffer from the sourness to come.

Yet once the ale washes the middle palate, its malt influence declines rapidly. The bracing acidity of the beer washes away any sweetness and brightens the apricot taste that resembles pear, peach, mango and orange. Piquant, earthy with brine and with a light taste of cashew and oak, the sourness sees a powdery softness along with a sharp and peppery edge. Light hay-like bitterness trails into a brisk late palate of funk, fauna and apricot fruit.

Generally light in body, the beer is crisp, clean and refreshing while retaining that rustic and earthen edge. A quick finish of vinous acidity is strong without becoming vinegar-like. Hints of cider trails into a lean aftertaste with only brisk echoes of sourdough, sea brine and leather remaining.

2016 bottle enjoyed in 2020.
Quite similar to a lambic this sour does the work. The apricot is there but doesn't obliterate the best beer.
Alright mouthfeel

 

 

 

Nice fruit, but marred by a plastic off-note.

 

 

an apricot wild beer, lambic inspired, to rival even the titans of the style in my opinion. for whatever reason, likely the price of these beers, loverbeer stuff still has not seem to have caught on amongst the beer nerds, but it is absolutely true that they are making some of the most unique and delicious wild ales anywhere. this one is splendid, but pours a less than fully excited brownish orange color, almost looks like rotting apricots, with a patchy thin white bubble layer on the top that dissipates quickly in the glass. leggy too like a fine wine. aroma is all time though, fresh apricot all the way, a ton of oak, and a mature wild yeast complexion thats quite a departure from what we would expect in a belgian lambic, but like so many of the other italian wild beers, its fully compatible with the fruit and super unique, as funky as it seems to be sour, really awesome, but also stepping aside for the fruit a bit. they use some special apricot here, a heritage fruit or something, and they seem to come through in the flavor of this more genuinely than a lot of others. the depth and truth of the apricot flavor here is next level, sweet and fuzzy, with somewhat of a richer malt base than i am used to in the style, wheaty still, but heavier and sort of caramelized, giving this a baked dessert complexion. i dont really miss higher carbonation, its sort of thick from the fruit, almost pulpy, and i enjoy the change of pace. the oak is awesome, and there is a white wine note in here with it, moderate tartness, and a lot of maturity. the fruit is the star though, and by the time i am done with the bottle here, i am fully convinced this is as good as fou foune, albeit less of a classic lambic. astounding brew, worth the price!

 

 

On tap at CBC 2016 - day 2. Murky ruby-brown pour. Vanilla and farmhouse funk with some red fruit notes.