Eylenbosch Framboise Cuvee Speciale

Formerly brewed at Mort Subite (Alken-Maes / Scottish & Newcastle)
Style: Lambic - Fruit
Kobbegem, Belgium

Draught@Akkurat (1989 vintage). Murky red colour with small white head. Aroma is toffwee, caramel, some raspberries and wood. Flavour is the same, in an excellent balance. Sour raspberry is coming in nicely in the flavour.

Draught @ Akkurat, Stockholm. Vintage 1989. Pours a pink reddish color with a white head. Sweet malty aroma with lots of raspberry. Sweet malty tart fruity raspberry flavor. Has a long fruity raspberry finish. Very drinkable.

1989 bottle at Heeren van Liedekercke. Poured an almost clear coppery-tinted amber with a lovely cap of pinkish-beige head. The aroma found a beautiful bouquet of rich raspberries along with some dark underlying wheat.. focused on the fruit and was rather complex. Flavor was of rich, rather tart raspberries with the wheat from the nose.. the fruit evolved to become more liquory, while retaining some tart, fresh edge.. long, tart finish carried the raspberries off into the distance. Nice level of tartness on the palate with just a few sweet notes from the fruit... little light across the middle and there was some graininess at the finish. Lovely beer.

A Mes rate: 1989 37.5cl bottle from DHVL.
After dragging ourselves out of bed after the 5am mission in Buggenhout the night before and following a very shaky breakfast this little beauty was my ’hair of the dog’. Very slight oxidisation in the nose but it is still bloody gorgeous. Woody and brim full of all types of berries. Superb dark red brown colour that still has a ring of foam despite it being in the bottle almost 20 years. Flavour, in similar fashion to the aroma, is oaky and overflowing with fruity complexity. Brown sugar and vanilla pod notes add sweetness to the underlying sour lambic character. The finish is superb. There is a polite smack in the mouth as an intense yet understated wave of tart blendage washes across the palate and to be totally honest I was rather upset when the last drops were drained (every last drop) from the glass. However rough I was feeling from the night before was completely forgotten. Hats must go off to Joost for looking after this so well.

1989 bottle, Akkurat Well I hear that most bottles have really not kept so well as the keg. My other Eylenbosch experiences have been most disappointing, so this one felt pretty good when compared to those, but it still was not completely the mind-blowing, freshest lambic ever that some reviews, from the draught version, point at. That being said, the body is cloudy, almost murky, darkis brown with red reflects. A fair bit of head quickly disappears, but there is obviously remaining carbonation. And it smells quite great in a concentrated raspberry juice fashion, quite musty and hinting at further berries, namely cherries, the whole fruit: pit and flesh. In mouth, I assume the body has certainly lost some tightness, the apparent freshness comes from the fruit concentration which is still obvious, but oxidation has certainly started to eat out some of its brightness as brown sugar madeirization leaves an impression on the gums that is not exclusively related to the remainings acidity - that one being more of a fruit and almost citric tartness rather than a lactic sourness. So a very aromatic one that I assume impresses mostly because of its age status, otherwise, I think I like as much a Liefmans frambozen that plays the concentration game just as well, but may not be in this shape at this age for it lacks the woodiness.

(Draught at Akkurat, Stockholm 27 April) – Vintage 89 - Huge creamy head lasting trough, leaving very beautiful laces on an unclear brown body; Incredible nose with loads of everything, fresh from sweet overripe raspberry together with oak, vanilla, brown sugar. This is simply amazing!; Very nice body, it could be more powerful, but has a superb balance and loads of complexity, it has a quite soft texture, could be a little more sour; The sourness explodes in the finish (not in the Cantillon way, but again in a very balanced way), which is super long with loads of aroma. THIS BEER IS SIMPLY FANTASTIC and I will never get enough of it.

(Draught@Akkurat, 1989 vintage) Hazy ruby red color with a very small, lacy head. Very fresh and delicious, slightly sweet raspberry aroma. Very balanced flavor with sweetness and mild tartness, and very fresh raspberries. The raspberry flavor is so clean it feels a bit artificial. Very refreshing, low-carbonated, medium-bodied, slightly sticky palate. An easy, pleasant and refreshing brew.

(Draught at Akkurat, Stockholm) Colour is mainly brown, with a disappearing head. Nose is rather sweet, with brown sugar bursting into dark aromas of raspberries and blackberries. Taste is sweet/sour with stifled raspberry notes, a bit of cellar, and a huge sweet/sour/raspberry finish. A bit on the sweet side, but very nice for a 17 year old.