Melbourn Brothers Strawberry

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

Unfiltered? Cool. Dense, dark brown-colored red body, white head, thick, patchy lacing. First whiff is strawberry skins, but becomes more candied (slightly sweeter) with time & temp. Musty lactic acid and peppery cream develops in the nose over time. Mildly prickly, somewhat fluffy up front. Candy sweet jollyrancher watermelon, strawberry, generic-berry across the middle, considerably sweet but works well as a dessert beer/fruit beer delivery mechanism. Mild but lasting sour milk note stays put well into the finish. Nice for what it is.

Bottle. Clear reddish amber pour with a medium white head. Aroma of strawberries, cream and yeast. Sweet strawberry flavor up front with a hint of vanilla and a somewhat tart finish.

Bottle. Amber/copper color. Short, pinkish head. Strawberry aroma - candy-like. Sour/acidic flavor of strawberry. Like Lambrusco. Metallic notes. Not that beer-like. Ok, though.

12oz bottle. Pours clear dark ruby in color with pink head. Aroma sweet, heavy strawberry tart. Taste sweet, strawberry and tart with sweet strawberry finish.

Bottle

Deciding to get a sense of what a month in England will be like I picked this up. Over the next few months I would like to work my way through as many English countries as possible; this was the second one in line. At $5.99 each they are a little pricy. I’m not sure it was worth it despite the fact that this had to come a considerable distance to get to the shelf of the local store.

Aroma / Appearance - Carbonated and semi-transparent with a brownish red hue it smelled solely of strawberry fruit rollups. More like Lindemans than a true lambic this has a candy like aspect that keeps it from being more interesting.

Flavor / Palate - The fluid mouthfeel tastes like cheap chocolate ice cream with strawberry chunks embedded. Artificial sweetener comes just before a weak finish. More like the Girardin Faro than anything else I have tried this was not worth what I paid. If it weren’t for being in an exploratory mood I would have avoided this as I had for the past two years.

Foams up a bit out of the bottle when I pop the cap. This pours into my 25cl tulip glass with a frothy, pale, off-white colored head. The beer is a murky red color that shows a light amber color (makes me think of browned, oxidized strawberries) when held up to the light. The aroma is unmistakably that of strawberry and is noticeable as soon as I pop the cap. Not surprisingly nothing else is noticeable except for the strawberry notes; at least the strawberry notes actually smell like real strawberries (though notched up a few ratchets) as opposed to cheap extract.

Shockingly sweet at the first sip, this tastes like strawberry syrup. Thick feeling, but there is a fairly substantial carbonation that actually seems to struggle to become free of the syrupy morass as the beer flows across my tongue. As to the flavors, well all I can say is strawberry and sweet, nothing else particularly is noticeable, especially nothing that would suggest this is a beer, much less a Lambic.

Not really something I want to drink, again this is more like a strawberry soda than anything. Way too sweet and fruity for my tastes.

Purchased: Papago Brewing Co, Scottsdale AZ

remjinded me more of a wine cooler than a beer, but had the beer undertone. in a bottle at a lace called martini 7 in canton, very sweet, not too syrupy, kind of like a dessert beer, enjoyed it,

Poured out and settle with a pinkish-amber color. Smells very fruity and slightly yeasty. Striaght-forward berry and citrus flavors. Had the faintest taste of citrus flavored wine at finish. Quite refreshing.