Hanssens Cassis

Brewed by Hanssens Artisanaal
Style: Lambic - Fruit
Dworp, Belgium

Tap @ W.O.S.F. Deep red with no head. Aromas of black currant, almonds, balsamic vinegar and some wood. The flavour is very sour and with notes of berries, peppery spice, dry, woody and tart.

Bottled@Fonefan. Ruby red colour with basically no head. Aroma is sour blackberries with some sour wood. Flavour is brutally dry black berries. Extremely nice. I am out of words. .

Draught cassislambik. Purple colour. Flat. Slightly balsamic with lots of fruit. Bold, curranty taste bursts with fruit. Slightly phenolic as well. A big, fruity, dry finish with a light wood accent.

This beer is pretty lightly carbonated; a careful pour only summons forth a wispy, pale pink head that only covers a third of the top of my beer. The beer is a darkish, red-plum color that shows a hazy, bright red color when held up to the light. Ah, this has that signature Hanssens funk, dirty as they come without becoming truly nasty. This smells of woody, moldy mushrooms, musty cellar notes, funky enteric notes, butyric barnyard notes, phenolic and sweat soaked dried leather, musky animal notes are the up front note, but there is a nice berry-like, fruity currant note that sort of ties the back end together. Other notes of spicy, woody oak and puffed wheat cereal notes that are actually quite strong. A lactic induced tartness is here, a touch of urea as well, and the fruit character also adds a tannic, berry skin note that helps to boost the currant character.

Only very lightly carbonate, and the beer is very dry and nicely tart. Subsequent sips see the chewy, fruitiness actually seems to suggest a very light sweetness that might not actually be here. The lactic sourness definitely is nicely aggressive with a bracing tartness that provides a nice puckering note. The currants and oak character provides a bit of a tannic structure that helps to also boost the body of this beer; it actually has a light viscousness to it that provides a touch of heft as it moves across the tongue. The currants also evoke thoughts of a light, fruity, but oaky red wine underneath the more dominant tartness. There is a fair amount of funkiness here, but it is not at the same level it is in the aroma, nor is it as funky as Hanssens’ Lambics can sometimes get. Woody mushroom notes, musty earthy flavors, a touch of urea, with some enteric notes in the finish and a solid Brettanomyces character that provides some muskiness and some sweat dried blanket notes. A touch of puffed wheat flavor adds some grain notes towards the finish.

The currants provide some nice character here, evocative of a berry-focused, oaked red wine at times, but still with a solid currant character that melds quite well with the funky base Lambic beer. I am definitely finding the puffed wheat cereal note in this beer quite interesting, it isn’t very strong, but nicely accents the finish of both the nose and flavor of this beer. Some more carbonation and effervescence would make this more lively and would like make the flavors pop a bit more, but I honestly don’t miss the carbonation that much. I hope they are making this a more regular item as I would love to see what they can do with this once they dial this beer in. I’ll definitely say that a 375ml bottle was not enough for me as my bottle is gone way too fast.

Tap @ WSF. Pours bloody reddish/pink with no head. Acetone, vinegar, blackcurrant and almond in the nose. Taste is very tart, fruity, woody and dry. Complex and fresh. Very nice.

Draft at WoSF. Flat, deep dark purple. Intense jammy sweet aroma with sour fruits, prunes, and some wood. Slick palate. No carbonation. Lots of acetic acid in the flavors and a lot of complexity. Really sour with lactic sweetness in the middle. Too acidic but finishes pretty clean.

Cloudy ruby with basically no head. Aroma has a whiff of lacto, but is mostly black currants, other berries and delicate sweet flowers. Deceiving! The flavour is extremely sour (too much), although the berries are still there. Lasting aftertaste of complex funk and berries.

Unclear red with a medium off white head, aroma had barnyard with leather and wood notes. Flavour was very sour with black currants, barnyard and wood. Finished sour.I love it.