Melbourn Brothers Apricot

Brewed by Melbourn Brothers (Samuel Smith)
Style: Lambic - Fruit
Stamford, England

High appearance marks for the cool potato-masher embossed bottle, the old time label, cool bottlecap and apricot colored beer. Buttery apricot lambic aroma. Vinegar, fruit, moderately sweet, toffee flavor. The wife actually liked this. I did too. Medium heavy. Lingering chutney finish.

Bottled. Bright pale golden. Sweet apricot jam aroma. Syrupy and very sweet. There’s some acidity in the background, but not nearly enough to balance the onslaught of the apricot jam.

Notes of apricot in the aroma, but not in the flavor. A dissapointment. Yellow and no head. Too sharp, sour flavor. Thin.

Pours with a slight, creamy head that lasts but doesn’t leave much lace. This is a good fruit beer with a low ABV. Sweet but a tartness creeps in at the finish. The label says malted barley and wheat but the apricot hides them. The hops are in the background too. A 12oz bottle is $5.89.

Nice apricot flavour and aroma balanced with a mild tart finish. Good stuff, sweet but not too overpowering. Easy drinking introductor lambic.

Bottle at chris’ - London & Joet gathering. My first from this brewery was a fairly decent, fairly sweet, fruity beer. Syrupy and not balanced but not unpleasent.

The most wine like of the 3. Looks like nothing special, a run-of-the-mill type. Low-key apricot nose with astringent vinous smells. Fruity, sour taste, hints of vinegar. Yeah, wine-like.

Interesting drink. It pours a clear, near amber color with a thin, disappearing white head. The aroma is of apricots gone sour... but not yet offensive. Fizzy, medium-bodied mouthfeel. The flavor has the usual lambic sourness, but rather than contrasting it to a sweet fruit, the apricot, which has a sweet beginning and nicely tart finish, is used. Makes for an oddly refreshing brew with a mouth-wateringly sour finish.