Glenn & Deb's Bourbon Barrel-Aged Cherry Kinda-Lambic
Tyranena Brewing Company

 

 

 

On tap at the tasting room...Pours an ugly watery brown with reddish highlights. A tan head that settles quickly...The aroma is lots charred wood, paint thinner and fake cherries, lightly tart...The taste is more the same but worse, this charred oak and alcohol, I don't even want to finish my taster size pour.

This is a lot worse than the raspberry version and should be avoided at all costs.

Draft at the Great Taste of the Midwest. Pours an orange brwon rust color with a slight head. The nose is, well, it's kind of weak in that it is very subtle to me. Aroma of cherry slightly. The taste starts off slightly sweet with some bitter and medicinal flavors. To be honest, it's farily bland and not really a standout. Light mouthfeel. I expected more but to be honest I really like seeing Tyranena trying to make such a beer. I have really enjoyed all their other beers and had high hopes for this one. I think it is great they are willing to share this one with the public and show they are giving this style a shot. Hate giving this such low marks.

On tap @ the Tyranena Brewing Company (Lake Mills, WI) on 8/8/10. Served in a pint glass.

Pours a deep coppery amber color, with a thin head of frothy bright-white foam. This retains with a thin and spotty look that eventually goes completely dead. Not too surprising giving the barrel-aged nature of this. The bourbon has some sharpness here in the nose with vanilla and burnt woody notes that waft up strongly into the nostrils. This quickly melds however into a sticky and fruity smelling mix of tart cherries and sweet malts.

Cherries and sweet spreads tart fruit flavor out into the mouth here in the taste, with a woody earthy bitterness that you can feel running through this for a second before then quickly getting lost in all of the tartness of the finish. Bourbon and tannic notes hang on the edges of the profile but is done just right here in that you can definitely detect it but it in no way overpowers or takes away from any of the cherry flavor. Dry parching wood and PUCKERING tart notes finish this out with emphasis. The mouthfeel is medium bodied, maybe a little fuller, with sharpness up that pops that tartness but then gets creamier towards the back of the swallow. Beyond some thickness I'm no sense of the ABV here at all.

Definitely not a Lambic but still tasty nonetheless, this was much more like a bourbon barrel-aged fruit beer (which is precisely pretty much what it is). I will say that I'm glad I got to partake in a full glass of this, as it really took some time for the barrel-aging here to attune itself to the palate but once it did, things really started to work out nicely for it. Almost like a spiked fruit drink flavor to it at times. They had some other fruit flavored versions of this on tap at the Great Taste the next weekend but I unfortunately never did get to try them. I'd would have liked to see how they had turned out as well.

On tap at Great Taste 2010

Pours a light head. Color is a mahogany brown with a ruby hue to it.

Aroma/Taste: Not very sour here. Very light level of cherries. It is very bland for a lambic (or kind-of lambic). There really just isn't a lot going on with this beer. Not a lot of funk or sour like a lambic normally has.

Mouthfeel: Dry and the slightest bit of sour. Medium bodied with a low to medium amount of carbonation.

Overall, this one was not for me. I didn't want to drink a lot of it and would not have it again. It seems as if they tried to make a lambic but it didn't turn out like one so they call it a Kind of lambic.

Pint on tap at the Tyranena tasting room

A - The color is a medium shade of brown with a hint of red. A fair amount of head forms and gradually diminishes, leaving behind sticky lacing as the beer is sipped.

S - Cherries are immediately recognizable, as is fragrant yeast. There is another fresh, pungent herbal element which I can't quite put my finger on.

T - Some funky yeast and a mild malt profile appear upon the first taste, and a very slight amount of brown sugar quickly follows. Cherries are more prominent in the middle to back half, and they are more bitter than sweet. The acidic fruit flavor coupled with the yeast results in a pleasantly sour finish and aftertaste.

M - Light to medium in body with an adequate amount of carbonation. I'm pretty impressed with the feel here; despite the fruit presence, this is not syrupy in the slightest.

D - Drinkability is distinctly higher than most other fruit beers which I've tried. I'm not a lambic connoisseur just yet, so I can't compare to others of similar style, but this was went down easily.

Overall, the Cherry Kinda-Lambic is another great beer from Tyranena and one which I'd definitely buy a lot of were it brewed again and bottled (hint, hint). It's very flavorful and contains just the right amount (small) of sweetness for my palate. For those who can, I recommend stopping at the brewery and trying it while it lasts.