Cellar Blend Vol 1
Phantom Carriage

 

Their brewery may be in California, but with this unblended lambic, their heart is definitely in Brussels. Phantom Carriage's inaugural blend takes those time honored techniques and applies modern science, palate preferences and ingenuity for a beer that's quite transcendent.

Cellar Blend Volume 1 pours a mystic hazy glow through a shade of goldenrod and a light wisping froth that carries the beer's crown. Brine and citrus flood the nose while a gentle mustiness grows from leather, cellar must, cork, weathered woods and a peppery spice to tingle the nose. Its modest sweetness rolls onto the tongue with sourdough, hard candy and a kiss of marmalade.

Any sweetness on the middle palate dissolves effortlessly and allows for the fruit, funk and fauna to swirl on the middle palate, saturating the tastebuds with the piquant sourness of spiced pear, acidic peach and oaked chardonnay. As its earthen perfume waft about the senses, its taste is a light sea-like brininess. A finish of white grapefruit bitterness and sourness creates a crisp and minerally hop profile.

A bitter and sour interplay washes the palate with thirst quenching fruit and spice while trending dry and acute. A brisk undercurrent of wet burlap, hay and grasses roll onto the finish long after the brunt of acidity and fruit has faded.