Spring has sprung, the pollen is drifting and the lambs are bleating.

A quick gawk around the lollyshop fridge and my parched eyes settle upon this little gem, a “Lean Lamb barrel aged sour” from the Mussel Inn.  I thought I’d tried them all, from peaches to pancakes, chillies to whiskies, and bacon to butterscotch, all of them different varieties of craft beer but one made out of lamb? Oh well, it’s lean so gotta be good for you? I must say, that a lean lamb and being sour certainly gets my curiosity going plus the label sports a couple of wheat stalks as well as a lamb. Certainly the right time of year for this brew then so here she goes.

Pours a thin bodied slightly hazy dark amber colour with small head that gets going once provoked.  An aroma of apple cider vinegar and fresh wood with a bite that jerks the nose back like you do when smelling ammonia. First taste and instant mouth pucker.  This is one grizzly beer and has some serious sourness and is like biting straight into a lemon. After the initial sour shock and realisation that you’ve spent good money on this so you’re going to drink this whether you like it or not I give it another go. Hmmm, better, it’s a lot like doing shots of tequila and biting lemon without the sucking the salt.

Once you’ve braved a few more sips your taste buds start to acclimatise and this brew gathers momentum and starts to reveal what its style is all about. This brew is complex enough to be interesting but unfortunately I’ve finished the bottle without appreciating this style’s finer points.

The label blurb says Lambic hence the Lamb name (derr!) and this style of Lambic is a Gueuze.   Lambic style beers were started when there was no knowledge of yeast cultures and were left to naturally occurring wild yeast and bacteria. Before yeast was identified as a living organism, it was known as ‘God is Good.’ They knew it as a something, but in absence of a firm scientific explanation, it was assumed to be a divine something. A Gueuze style is a blend of several different aged Lambics mixed according to the brewer’s taste.

Lambics are brewed with at least 30% raw wheat and the malt flavours are not balanced by hop bitterness but more by lactic acidity so probably not best to drink one before exercise.  The hops that are used are deliberately old and so have fewer flavours and are used just for their preservative compounds. Lambics are therefore a tribute to the art of controlled spoilage.

O.K. back from the lollyshop with another bottle and now that I know what to expect, can give it a second go for some finer appreciation, what the hell, it’s one of the cheaper craft brews in the shop and my taste buds need to get out of their comfort zone as much as possible.

This time, after the initial effervescent tang on the front of the tongue, I can detect flavours of apple cider, pickled onions and an aged barrel woodiness that you get from good whiskey. Each sip finishes with a lingering malt background and dryness on the back of the tongue. So much complexity with this brew that each sip has something different about it. This is a must do taste experience for every craft brew drinker and is sure to expand the palate boundaries. Actually, it’s like discovering a new alcoholic beverage that you can call beer.

If you appreciate what a blue vein is compared to a tasty then you’ll appreciate what a lambic is to ale. You’re not put off by the smell of the cheese and same with the Lamb as this brew is as delicious as it is stinky. Perfect for the adventurous beer taster, just make sure that if you try one, get two bottles.