Mort Subite Cassis

Brewed by Mort Subite (Alken-Maes / Scottish & Newcastle)
Style: Lambic - Fruit
Kobbegem, Belgium

Lovely light smell of black currant, has some sweetness with tart raspberry overtones. Not artificial cordial smelling. Massive white head over a slightly dull copper body, not cloudy but slightly opaque. Flavour does seem to be dominated by raspberry / cherry flavours with just a hint of black currant (note that I don’t recall ever having eaten a black currant so ribena is my idea of black currant; this is probably wrong). To me this works very well as a flavour combo. I like this one quite a bit, probably the best fruit beer I have had so far I think. This is not a realm I have tried much of though. Oh yeah and a great big chunk of sourness that comes dropping on through.

Sugary Belgian cherry lambic. Looked good in the glass - a murky plum colour with a tall head that left legs. The rich sherbety aroma is dominated by tart blackcurrant, sugary sweetness and a hint of the barn. But it lacked true lambic funkiness. It’s quite thick and chewy in the mouth and spoiled by a granular sugary texture. The flavour palette again shows blackcurrant, with the obvious cherries. It’s too sweet initially before a late lambic sourness in the finish. Disappointing - it’s ages since I had a decent lambic. (25cl bottle, IBS, Perth)

Bottle (250ml). At Smokeless Joe. Poured a nice ruby with a biggish pink tinged lasting head. Aroma pretty much just natural smelling tart black currant with sugary maltiness and a hint of alcohol and spice - very nice, not like ribena. Flavour is cassis somewhat artificially sweetened, some very weak lambic tartness - a bit too sweet. Mouthfeel is acidic, juicy and sticky - has some body, but very little beer flavour. Refreshing but I was happy to let my wife drink the lion’s share - not my thing.

Huge pink head with a lightly hazed amber- ruby body. Tart malt mingles with the currant and mild fruity aromas. Light sweet flavors hit and are taken back by only a small amount of tartness. An unassuming lambic. A cross between a fruit beer and a lambic.

(Bottled) Nice, slightly hazy deep red color with a smallish but quite firm head. Very strong, sweetish but quite natural cassis aroma. Sweetish cassis flavor with no trace of lambic sourness. Light to medium-bodied palate with lemonadey carbonation. Not that bad, but truly a "girls’ beer".

Bottled (BB 10/2005)
Hazy brown, nut brown, creamy head. Strong cassis aroma. Sweet, juice, sugary flavor, also some dry woody flavors (cassis grains). Quite artificial.

(Bottle 25 cl) Reddish blue beer with a small, bubbly head. Very fresh nose with lots of black currant, and the berries shine through all of this beer. The acidity from the berries adds to the lambic’s tartness making this a rather sour beer - althoough with some added sugar. 180999

Bottle. Sour and musty black currant aroma. Reddish -dark purple color with small head. Initial tartness followed by a sweet black currant flavor. Full bodied. Very nice - not as sweet as Lindemans but still more than traditional.