Samuel Adams Cranberry Lambic: Cold turkey of a brew
Written: Feb 14 '01 (Updated Jun 23 '01)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Lambic in the USA? by Sam Adams?
Cons: Hardly drinkable
The Bottom Line: Don't bother, neither worthey of the name Lambic nor Sam Adams.
|
|
|
| andaryl's Full Review: Samuel Adams Cranberry Lambic |
I was pretty intersested a while ago to hear that Sam Adams produced a lambic. How intriguing that a style so hard to come by and when found, is usually expensive would be brewed by one of the USA's best known breweries.
I actually picked this one up as part of a mixed Sam Adams Xmas pick which happened to be on sale at $8.99, well worth the money. Before I tasted this brew I had read a few other reviews and interestingly two of the more credible beer reviewers, bruguru and kurt h split this one right down the middle with ratings of 5 and 1 respectively. What an introduction!
Well inevitably I had to give it a go myself. The start is fairly interesting. It pours fairly lively with a little foaminess. The body is very light and clear, looking very similar to a an amber or pale ale. When you put your nose over this you'll get something a little bizarre. Initially there's a sweet freshness, kind of like a bubble-gum aroma, which I happened to notice in a disappointing Kirin Ichiban. With a few more checks I managed to get some walnut in the aroma too.
Now when this beer hits the palate it's very light. Now I figure when they call this a cranberry lambic it's intended for the christmas category, whereas most beers released at that time tend to be heavier. If you try really carefully, you may notice the nuttiness again at the front of the mouth. However the sweetness seems to be very overwhelming in the finish. It kind of reminds me of trying to taste a beer while sucking on a mint.
Upon my first sip of this beer, I was thinking "wow, excellent beer", however the flavor soon became a little sweet, with no maltiness. Eventually I was struggling to even finish it.
As you'll guess from my negative tone, I'm not going to recommend this one to most people. It may have some appeal to those seeking a trendy beer, as it is fairly easy drinking. Personally though I have many better beers in my fridge and probably will end up giving my remaining one of these away. But 5-stars from bruguru? I didn't get it myself John. I give this one a turkey.
Recommended:
No
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
andaryl
|
 - Top 500 |
|
Member: Andrew Smith
Location: The Desert, So Cal
Reviews written: 219
Trusted by: 175 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2008 Shopping.com, Inc.