Sometimes, luck is on your side.
Case in point:
Last Saturday.
My wife, Ashley, and I were walking back to our hotel, with her sister, after having just disembarked from our brief mini-fjord “cruise,” which also included a stop at a brand new museum built by the owner of the Hipp baby food brand. As we walked up Hornsgatan (a main street close to the hotel at which my wife and I were staying), each of us was feeling a bit weary, and we were all looking forward to a nice afternoon nap.
Not more than a block after Ashley and I split off from her sister, Abbey, we wandered by a beer bar that appeared to specialize in American craft brews — they had signs/banners/whathaveyou from the likes of Oskar Blues, North Coast Brewing, Anderson Valley Brewing Co., and others hung on the pillars outside. I drifted closer to their outside bar and noticed they had Boon’s Kriek Lambic on tap! Hey, now that’s not an everyday sighting!!
Still, I merely commented on this fact to Ashley as we continued towards our hotel, to which she responded, “You know, we could grab a beer if you want.” “I wouldn’t turn it down, if you’re interested.” And, such was the manner in which we wandered into, Akkurat, one of the greatest beer bars in the world.
Once inside, I spotted an opening at the far end of the bar where I thought I could belly-up and order one of the twenty craft brews they had on cask or tap. Once over there, however, I noticed a ridiculous array of whisky and bourbon staring back at me from a coliseum-esque arrangement. A couple Port Ellens were calling my name … alas, the siren call of a special Cantillon – on tap(!) – lured me away. Upon closer inspection of the tap pulls, I realized this place had not one, but TWO Cantillon brews on tap — one of them being the “Lou Pepe” Kriek Lambic. “Holy shit, they have Cantillon’s “Lou Pepe” Kriek on tap, Ash!” Upon hearing this, a man named Claus, decked-out in a Cantillon shirt, himself, pointed-out that today Akkurat was celebrating a cherry festival (?), or something like that. Anyways, the point of the whole matter was that Akkurat had a special offering on Kriek Lambics and Gueuzes running that day, at which time he handed me the special menu, as pictured here:
Prices are in Swedish krowns (“SEK”) (100 SEK is approx. $15)
Naturally, Ashley and I decided to split a 15cl pour of each one, as well as a Cantillon “Lou Pepe” Kriek.
The lineup, from Left to Right: Cantillon – “Lou Pepe” Kriek; 2002 Drie Fonteinen – Gueuze Kriek; 2000 Cantillon – Lambic Kriek; 1998 Hanssen’s – Kriek; 1998 Boon – Oude Kriek; 2008 Cantillon – Lambic Kriek
L to R: Cantillon – “Lou Pepe” Kriek; 2008 Cantillon – Lambic Kriek; 2002 Drie Fonteinen – Gueuze Kriek; 2000 Cantillon – Lambic Kriek; 1998 Hanssen’s – Kriek; 1998 Boon – Oude Kriek
It goes without saying, the beers were lots of fun to taste:
Cantillon – “Lou Pepe” Kriek
– on tap –
– tasted non-blind from a straight-sided glass over approx. 1.5 hours –
Bright pink-red color. Somewhat sweet on the palate. Slightly funky/farmhouse-y. Very good.
2008 Cantillon – Lambic Kriek
– from 375mL –
– tasted a single pour non-blind from a curved glass over approx. 1.5 hours –
Rye cracker, wheat cracker, and ruby red grapefruit on the Nose. Very sour on the palate, with light to moderately intense cherry flavor. Excellent.
2002 Drie Fonteinen – Gueuze Kriek
– from 375mL –
– tasted a single pour non-blind from a curved glass over approx. 1.5 hours –
No head. Gentle Nose with a sweet cinnamon note. Tastes like a Yankee Christmas candle smells — spicy, woodsy, slight hint of baked cherry; odd medicinal note, too. Very good, but doesn’t seem to be as well-structured as the Cantillons.
2000 Cantillon – Lambic Kriek
– from 375mL –
– tasted a single pour non-blind from a curved glass over approx. 1.5 hours –
Thin, long-lasting head. Nose was deep and rich – didn’t really smell aged at all. Similarly, the palate was quite youthful, with a delicious full and deep flavor, marked with intense acidity. Excellent.
1998 Hanssen’s – Kriek
– from 375mL –
– tasted a single pour non-blind from a curved glass over approx. 1.5 hours –
Brownish tint to this one. Nose was woodsy, earthy, and sour; hint of burnt toffee; Nose also showed a very strong resemblance to the thin dry membrane that covers Spanish peanuts – not the shell, but that paper-like reddish-brown covering. Light bodied on the palate. Quite sour, with Jolly Rancher flavors of green apple and cherry on the palate. Clearly more advanced than all other beers tried today, but this is not a bad thing: this might be drinking at its peak right now, and it’s a thoroughly wonderful beer. Very good to excellent.
1998 Boon – Oude Kriek
– from 375mL –
– tasted a single pour non-blind from a curved glass over approx. 1.5 hours –
Thin, long-lasting head. Nose shows baked cherries and a hint of oxidation – kinda “casky”. Very wine-like on the palate; medium-light bodied; sour, but not as much as the ’98 Hanssen; not as deep as the Hanssen, either. Very good.
During our conversation with Claus and other local regulars it was pointed out to me that Akkurat holds a Top Ten spot on Ratebeer.com’s Best Beer Bars in the World list; they all thought it was hilarious that a lambic geek such as myself literally just happened into the bar, and on a day when they were doing this special aged Kriek lambics tasting, ta boot! I don’t blame ‘em for laughing --- I basically stumbled into heaven. Before I left, I took a look at their bottle list (30 some pages long). Here’s some shots of their gueuze/lambics pageS(!) Totally effing mental:
Note, this is (part of) their list of 375mL’s --- they have a separate section for their 750mL’s(!!!)
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Their aged trappist, saison, Flanders, English, and even American selections were equally eye-popping. This place could put me in the poor house so fast --- it’s a good thing I live in a different country! As we left, we had already made plans to return the following day.
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**The following day:**
The previous day was merely a tease. On this day (night, actually) we would finally dip into what may be the greatest collection of gueuze located anywhere outside of Belgium! In the name of wanting to sample a greater number of beers, we opted for 375mL bottles over 750’s. It was a flipping awesome time, that was punctuated with great bar food (mussels and stuffed potato skins), as well as a great live band (blues rock).
[u]Here was our damage[/u]:
[u]**Flight 1:**[/u]
**1998 Hanssen’s – Oude Gueuze**
-- from 375mL --
-- tasted non-blind from a curved glass over approx. 1.5 hours --
NOSE: Spanish peanuts membrane (just like the 1998 Hanssen Kriek Lambic); smells considerably more dried-out than the ’97 and ’98 Cantillon Gueuzes; cement; mint; hint of washed rind cheese; moderately+ expressive.
BODY: hazy yellow-orange color is slightly lighter than the hazy orange color of the Cantillons; no head; light to medium-light body.
TASTE: Spanish peanuts; hint of sweetness – Jolly Rancher – but it really doesn’t come across as sweet; earthy; sour, but not mouth-puckeringly sour like the Cantillons --- rather, this is more like an apple cider, and seems to have reached its peak; I can’t imagine this has much room to improve, and its price (95 SEK, which is approx. half of what the Cantillons cost) seems to suggest the same (i.e.: time to move these!). It was very interesting to compare this to the Kriek version, from the previous day --- I wonder if the Spanish peanut membrane note (which was quite prominent in both beers) is a product of the vintage or the house? Very good: 7.0 – 8.0/10.
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**1997 Cantillon – Gueuze 100% Lambic**
-- from 375mL --
-- tasted non-blind from a curved glass over approx. 1.5 hours --
NOSE: funky/casky; citric; moderately+ expressiveness; more “winey” than the ’98 vintage of the same; hint of orange peel.
BODY: light hazy orange color; no head; light bodied.
TASTE: very lemony sour; starting to become wine-like, but still has time to go; hint of shellfish on the long finish; moderately broad, with a pretty good drive from the palate’s front to back; definitely more rounded than the ’98; excellent: would be a 10/10 for me, but for its placement next to the stunning ’98, which is superior, so I guess I have to go 9.0 – 9.5/10 on this.
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**1998 Cantillon – Gueuze 100% Lambic**
-- from 375mL --
-- tasted non-blind from a curved glass over approx. 1.5 hours --
NOSE: similar to the ’97 (“funky/casky; citric; moderately+ expressiveness; hint of orange peel”), but more citrus present; not as dried-out/casky as the ’97; moderately expressive.
BODY: light hazy orange color (same as ’97); more head than the ’97, although it dissipates quickly; light bodied.
TASTE: incredible tartness --- this actually tastes young; hint of casky must; steely; lemon and gooseberry fruits; slight floral cherry note, too; incredibly complex; coiled and tense; needs more time. Stunning: 10/10.
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[u]**Flight 2:**[/u]
**2001 De Cam – Oude Geuze**
-- from 375mL --
-- tasted non-blind from a curved glass over approx. 1.5 hours --
NOSE: expressive; white peach or underripe peach; varnish; a touch minty with considerable time in the glass.
BODY: light hazy orange color; medium-light bodied; thin, quickly-dissipating head.
TASTE: lactic; intense sourness; typical high-quality gueuze flavor, but perhaps a touch milky; 6.5% alc. not noticeable; tastes extremely young; needs time. Excellent: 9.0/10.
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**2002 Orval**
-- from 375mL --
-- tasted non-blind from a curved glass over approx. 1.5 hours --
NOSE: Belgian spices; steamed root vegetables; liverwurst; bread grains; moderately+ expressive.
BODY: yellow-tan color; thin, foamy head; medium bodied.
TASTE: very light; no longer has youthful drive; nice finish, albeit of light intensity; earthy, dried out, hint of leather. For my palate preferences, this is past peak. 6.2% alc.. Has a Best By End date of July 3, 2007 on the label. No rating.
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All in all, a pretty ridiculous couple stops at this world-class bar. <img src="/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif" width="24" height="18" alt="[cheers.gif]" title="cheers"/>![[shock.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0b1dcf699ec319f43254f92e3f145786dcd93904.gif "shock"){kind=small}
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