Upland Kiwi Lambic

Brewed by Upland Brewing Company
Style: Lambic - Fruit
Bloomington, Indiana USA

Man! I had to drive over 500 miles to pick up this very limited release. Sampled during Skyview Sourfest II in St Paul, MN. From a 750 ml bottle pours a hazy golden orange brew with a thin off-white head that quickly dissipates. Aroma of sweet kiwi fruit, some light vanilla, a hint of pear and barn yard funk. Taste is medium bodied, some sweet kiwi fruit and pear flavors and light carbonation. Finish is a tad on the sweet side with a continued kiwi fruit aftertaste and pear flavors. Don’t know if much more aging will help this unique and rare lambic but it is what it is.

Huge thanks to skyview for the taste. Orange color, nearly still. Faint acidic kiwi amid the characteristic upland lambic funk. Sweet, faintly funky character with mild kiwi. Watery finish.

Bottle. Sea O’Floydster epic tasting, post PP Belgian Fest. Thanks Carlos for bringing this bottle. Unfortunately, one of the bigger letdowns of the night. The flavor, quite simply, falls down way too quickly. Sweet. Minimal sourness and tartness. Fruity notes, but you’d be hard pressed to peg it as being kiwi. Some funk in the nose. Watery finish. Basically no mid or back palate. Slightly creamy/smooth in the mouthfeel aside from the watery character. Easy to drink though, with a few pleasant qualities. An interesting idea that held potential..but was a definite letdown. Too bad. That said, pretty cool to try one of only 48 bottles in existence. And, as WeeHeavySD said - "This is no great shakes, rarity does not determine quality" - true. So true. And, despite the numbers I gave this beer, which happen to be identical to WeeHeavySD’s, I did not actually discuss this with him at all nor even look at his rating before choosing the numbers! So yeah, some of these super rare beers simply suck.

8th rating, Bottle @ Post Belgian Fest killer tasting dubbed Sea O’Floydster, with a load of cool people including Cquiroga, floydster, seaoflament and many others. Bottle thanks to Carlos, glad to have tried this rarity. Pours golden orange with bubbles. Nose is tart and sweet. Taste is tart and sweet with some kiwi. This is no great shakes, rarity does not determine quality.

Holy crowberries! A ginormous thanks to *****, you know who you are, sonofabitch! Pours a whitish hazed yellow golden bron with a thin of an offwhite head. The nose is crisp and biting, with just a hint of vanilla. Some sigificant Bret, but most aspects are Pedio, I think. The mouth is medium to lightly heavily bodied, with reasonable carbonation. The flavors are in line with the nose, though there is perhaps a bit more vanilla. Most of the tartness comes from the microbes, but there’s a distinctly limey to kiwiy fruity tartness. There’s a bit more residual sweetness than you generally see i nthe style. This could age a bit more, really.. The oak comes through as mostly vanilla. The tannins are weak compared the acidity and fruit. This could age for 4 more years and still be lovely, I’m sure! I hope more is made! This isn’t even close to it’s potential!

My bottle was opened to share with tjthresh: IF YOU HAVE ONE OF THESE... PLEASE DO NOT DO WHAT I DID AND AVOID THE TEMPTATION, LET IT AGE AT LEAST ONE MORE YEAR!!! That said let see why... Deep golden and orangy hue of a beer that is just now starting to develop some carbonation. no lace but some oily legs. The aroma has notes of fresh vinegar, very brief vapours of horsey brett, flowery esters, oak and a hint of Kiwi and Pear, some sea salt too. Then I got on towards the taste, very MILD acidic fruity and more of a lacto sour milk character than that of a wild yeast brett funk. Surprisingly earthy, woody and minerally. A hint of sweet bread is distracting. The mouth feel is dry but not the bone dry character that is often found in the best of genre, soft and tannic, thin to medium-bodied. Right now this is underwhelming and need to gain more funk on the palate. not even close to be at this best (if it will ever get there is another topic).

Pour cheese orange. Very clear. A bit of effervestant bubbles. The nose is certianly lactic. I don’t get a lot of fruit, but the lambic character is there. Well, the flavor isn’t really up to par with most lambics. Hell, its just too easy to drink, and does not deliver what the nose promises. I pick up a bit of kiwi, but not nearly enough. It got some nice tartness. Medium body and no real carbonation. Well, it doesn’t live up to expectations, but its good.

Shared by Miketd. Thanks alot Mike. I really cant believe they bottled this one when they did. Not even close to being ready. Kiwi flavor becomes more pronounced as it warms, but this beer was lacking all the great lambic characteristics. I would say it needs 2 or 3 years to develop further. Its not bad for a fruit beer though, but the funk and sourness was absent.